REMARKS  ON  THE  EXTENT  OF  SWAMP  LANDS  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES, 


;  Health  Oue 


with 


AND  THEIR 


RECLAMATION  AS  A  SANITARY  AND  ECONOMIC  MEASURE. 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  THIRD  ANNUAL  MEETING 
OF  THE  AMERICAN  PUBLIC  HEALTH  ASSOCIATION \ 


BALTIMORE,  MD,  NOVEMBER  9,  1875, 


J.  M.  TONER,  M.  D. 

President  of  the  Association. 


[Reprinted  from  Vol.  II.  Public  Health  Papers  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association.! 


CAMBRIDGE: 

Printed  at  tfjc  flitters  tdc  press. 

1876 


61+.7 

T6± 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING  PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUES¬ 
TIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  AMERICAN  PUBLIC  HEALTH  ASSOCIATION  AT  ITS 
THIRD  ANNUAL.  MEETING.  BALTIMORE,  NOVEMBER  9,  1875. 

By  JOSEPH  M.  TONER,  M.  D., 

President  of  the  Association. 

To-day  we  open  the  Third  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Public 
Health  Association,  although  in  fact,  it  is  the  sixth  meeting  of  its  friends.1 

I  congratulate  you  on  the  large  attendance  of  members  from  all  parts  of 
our  country,  as  well  as  upon  the  evidences  we  receive  from  every  source,  of 
the  great  interest  which  the  public  are  taking  in  our  labors.  This  move¬ 
ment  for  the  prevention  of  disease  has  enlisted  in  its  cause  not  only  the 
medical  but  also  the  clerical  profession,  as  well  as  scientific  and  thinking 
men  of  all  classes.  In  the  interest  of  the  great  purposes  of  this  Associa¬ 
tion,  I  welcome  all  present  to  our  deliberations,  whether  members  of  this 
body  or  not.  This  occasion  does  not  require  of  me  to  enlarge  on  either  the 
history  or  importance  of  State  Medicine.  The  one  is  well  known  and  the 
other  is  generally  admitted  ;  but  while  the  intelligent  citizen  recognizes  his 
duty,  the  full  obligation  of  the  Government,  State  and  National,  to  protect 
the  public  health,  has  neither  been  assumed  nor  generally  conceded  by  our 
law  makers.  This  trust  on  the  part  of  governments  is  beginning  to  be  bet¬ 
ter  understood,  and  I  am  confident  future  legislations  will  supply  the  omis¬ 
sion  and  correct  the  errors  of  the  past.2  I  will,  therefore,  take  this  occa- 

1  The  preliminary  meeting  which  led  to  the  organization  of  the  American  Public  Health 
Association  was  held  in  New  York,  April  18,  1872. 

The  Committee  then  appointed  to  perfect  a  plan  for  organization,  called  a  second  meet¬ 
ing  at  Long  Branch,  N.  J.,  September  12,  1872,  at  which  a  constitution  was  adopted  and 
officers  elected.  The  third  meeting  convened  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  May  1,  1873.  The 
fourth  meeting  was  held  in  New  York,  November  11,  1873.  The  fifth  meeting  was  held 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  November  10-12,  1874. 

2  The  following  very  just  remarks  were  made  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  in  his  inquiry  into 
the  Sources  of  Summer  and  Autumnal  Fevers  of  the  United  States  (vol.  iv.  p.  139)  :  — 

“  To  every  natural  evil,  the  Author  of  Nature  has  kindly  prepared  an  antidote.  Pesti¬ 
lential  fevers  furnish  no  exception  to  this  remark.  The  means  of  preventing  them  are  as 
much  under  the  power  of  human  reason  and  industry  as  preventing  the  evils  of  lightning 
1 

*  Vizvb 


2 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


sion,  which  courtesy  has  assigned  me,  for  presenting  some  views  on  sanitary 
measures,  which  I  -conceive  to  be  important  and  of  general  interest  to  the 
whole  country,  premising  that  the  transactions  at  our  meetings  have  not  an 
exclusively  scientific  purpose,  nor  are  they  designed  to  give  systematic  in¬ 
struction  in  hygiene.  We  fully  recognize,  however,  the  fact,  that  efficient 
sanitary  work  requires  the  aid  of  both  science  and  art,  and  while  giving 
every  attention  to  these,  we  further  aim  by  affording  information  upon  mat¬ 
ters  of  sanitary  relations  to  assist  in  educating  the  public  mind  ta  an  appre¬ 
ciation  of  the  importance  of  preventive  medicine.  It  is  also  within  our 
province  to  encourage  the  organization  of  State  and  local  boards  of  health 
having  a  uniform  nomenclature  of  diseases  and  systematic  methods  of  regis¬ 
tration  of  vital  statistics. 

We  hope  to  see  the  purposes  of  this  Association  and  the  study  of  hygiene 
receive  the  active  support  of  all  intelligent  men  ;  and  we  trust  its  labors 
and  publications  may  encourage  the  discussion  of  preventive  medicine  in 
every  locality,  and  foster  a  disposition  to  observe  and  note  the  causes  that 
deteriorate,  or  in  any  way  affect  the  public  health.  Our  mission  is  to  impart 
and  encourage  throughout  the  United  States  correct  views  on  all  that  re¬ 
lates  to  man’s  physical  well-being.  In  the  language  of  Dr.  Parkes,  hygiene 
aims  at  “  rendering  growth  more  perfect,  decay  less  rapid,  life  more  vigor¬ 
ous,  and  death  more  remote.”  Sanitary  science,  in  its  application  to  the 
necessities  of  modern  society  for  the  preservation  of  health,  constitutes  one 
of  the  most  important  advances  and  reforms  of  this  or  of  any  age.  I  am 
convinced  that  there  is  no  subject  of  greater  importance  and  interest  to  the 
people  than  that  of  the  cleanliness  of  cities  and  towns,  and  the  careful  in¬ 
vestigation  of  the  causes  of  disease.  A  matter  so  vital  to  the  welfare  of  the 
inhabitants  cannot  be  safely  ignored  by  the  authorities  of  a  state  or  nation  \ 
scientific  investigation  and  appropriate  legislation  must  be  had. 

The  masses  should  be  taught  to  understand  that  filth  and  the  neglect  of 
hygienic  precautions  enfeeble  health,  breed  disease,  encourage  vice,  and 
shorten  life.  The  sanitary  policing  of  cities  thus  becomes  an  imperative 
necessity.  Experience  teaches  all  who  investigate  the  possibilities  of  pre¬ 
ventive  medicine,  how  utterly  indifferent  the  body  of  the  people  are  to  con¬ 
ditions  that  deteriorate  health,  and  how  certainly  the  ignorant  will  throw  ob¬ 
stacles  in  the  way  of  public  officers  in  the  execution  of  even  the  simplest 
sanitary  regulations.  In  our  efforts  for  reform,  we  should  remember  that 
the  time  is  not  remote  when  diseases  were  believed  to  be  direct  visitations 
of  Divine  Providence,  and  when  it  was  deemed  impious  to  attempt  to  avert 
their  consequences.  Indeed,  this  view  is  still  held  by  ignorant  and  super¬ 
stitious  people  in  different  parts  of  the  world.1 

Besides  this,  there  exists  with  many  a  false  conception  of  personal  and 
domiciliary  rights.  The  power  to  do,  to  neglect,  and  to  maintain  —  upon 
their  own  premises  —  whatever  their  cupidity,  their  ignorance  and  debasing 

and  common  fire.  I  am  so  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  this  opinion,  that  I  look  for  a  time 
when  our  courts  of  law  shall  punish  cities  and  villages  for  permitting  any  of  the  sources  of 
bilious  and  malignant  fevers  to  exist  within  their  jurisdiction.” 

1  This  was  recently  exhibited  in  Canada  in  the  riotous  proceedings  against  general  vac¬ 
cination. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


3 


habits  or  laziness  may  elect,  without  molestation  and  without  question,  by 
neighbors  or  the  municipal  authorities,  is  everywhere  abrogated  by  the  uned¬ 
ucated,  and  this  assumption  has  greatly  retarded  the  progress  and  efficiency 
of  State  Medicine.  To  what  extent,  during  past  ages,  the  ruling  classes 
were  responsible' for  the  very  general  neglect  of  civic  cleanliness  among  the 
helpless  and  ignorant,  and  the  prevalence  of  the  belief  that  all  man’s  ills 
were  due  to  an  avenging  Providence,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  The  gen¬ 
eral  diffusion  of  knowledge  in  the  present  age,  the  consequent  wonderful 
advance  in  personal  freedom,  liberty  of  opinion,  and  the  demand  of  all  to 
have  a  voice  in  framing  laws,  -^-laws  which  are  to  bear  equally  upon  every 
individual,  and  are  to  work  in  consonance  with  the  wants  of  an  advancing 
civilization,  — justify  us  in  assuming  that  intelligence  has  been  nearly  eman¬ 
cipated  from  that  intolerant,  dogmatic  authority  which  has  been  the  out¬ 
growth  of  superstitious  ignorance  and  arrogant  misrule.  It  is  indeed  an 
encouraging  evidence  in  confirmation  of  the  assumed  increase  of  informa¬ 
tion  among  the  people,  that  multitudes  in  every  community  now  accept  the 
doctrine  that  many  diseases  are  preventable.  I  am  persuaded  the  number  is 
rapidly  augmenting  in  all  classes  of  society,  who  fully  believe  in  the  ability 
of  the  chemist  and  microscopist  to  detect  adulterations  and  poisons  in  food, 
and  discover  organic  and  other  deleterious  matters  in  drinking-water.  This 
fact,  simple  as  it  is,  is  a  triumph  of  science,  and  strikes  the  unlettered  with 
amazement.  When  once  the  mind  is  convinced  that  science  can  detect 
poisons  in  water  and  articles  of  diet,  —  however  minutely  disseminated, — 
-it  becomes  an  easy  matter  for  it  to  accept  the  additional  fact,  that  sanitary 
inspectors  can  discover  in  the  want  of  cleanliness  and  the  accumulation  of 
filth,  in  and  around  dwellings  and  badly-ventilated  tenements,  conditions 
which  not  only  taint  the  air  with  their  emanations,  but  penetrate  the  cloth¬ 
ing,  furniture,  and  food,  destroy  health,  and  actually  breed  disease. 

In  the  future,  or  as  long  as  education  shall  be  general,  truth  alone  will 
control  the  earnest,  scientific  inquirer,  and  only  definite,  consistent,  and  de¬ 
monstrable  results  will  receive  general  acquiescence.  Science  deals  with 
realities,  and  must  act  upon  what  it  knows  and  can  prove,  and  is  unlike 
faith,  which  is  based  upon  what  is  desired  or  believed.  Should  science  ever 
become  dogmatic,  its  errors  will  be  on  the  side  of  actual  knowledge.  To 
the  possible  influence  for  good,  which  lies  within  the  legitimate  domain  of  a 
voluntary  association  of  this  kind,  composed  of  competent,  earnest  laborers 
for  the  prevention  of  disease  and  the  preservation  of  the  public  health,  we 
can  assign  no  limit. 

Sanitary  observances  of  some  sort,  though  often  crude  and  meagre,  are  a 
kind  of  instinct.  To  elevate  this  perception  in  man  to  the  position  of  an 
actual  science,  is  the  duty  of  an  advancing  civilization.  Hygienic  regula¬ 
tions  are  older  than  the  Christian  Era,  and  were  made  a  part  of  the  religious 
dispensation  promulgated  by  the  inspired  law-giver  of  Israel.  It  is,  there¬ 
fore,  a  neglected,  rather  than  a  new,  or  an  unknown  science.  Hygienic 
blessings  are  not  the  property  of  any  people  or  age,  of  one  clime  or  nation; 
they  belong  to  mankind  of  both  high  and  low  condition  —  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  the  intelligent  and  the  ignorant  —  at  all  seasons  and  in  all  places, 


4 


A  VIE  W  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


wherever  man  travels  by  land  or  by  water,  whether  he  tarries  in  tents, 
palaces,  crowded  cities,  or  in  the  open  country.  To  make  the  knowledge  of 
sanitary  science  possessed  by  the  educated,  serviceable  for  the  protection 
of  the  people,  requires  great  discretion,  perseverance,  and  fortitude  on  the 
part  of  those  charged  with  the  duty.  While  there  remains  with  the  many  a 
rooted  ignorance,  and  a  sensitive  antagonism  to  reform,  we  believe  that, 
except  in  extreme  cases,  more  rapid  progress  can  be  made  by  developing, 
educating,  and  leading  public  sentiment,  than  by  attempting  too  soon  to  en¬ 
force  compliance  with  sanitary  laws.  The  growing  necessities  for  increased 
hygienic  precautions,  created  by  an  advancing  civilization,  are  fortunately 
being  understood  and  provided  for  at  every  point,  as  rapidly  as  could  rea¬ 
sonably  be  expected.  The  accumulated  knowledge  of  the  science  is  devel¬ 
oping  resources  for  the  enforcement  of  its  dictates,  and  the  highest  skill  of 
the  architect,  the  chemist,  the  engineer,  and  the  physician  is  employed  in 
its  service.  The  scientist  and  the  expert  are  now  called  on  for  their  opinion 
by  courts  of  justice,  and  their  judgments  relied  upon  by  capitalists  and 
merchants.  But  perhaps  in  no  department  of  civil  polity  has  there  been 
greater  progress  made  than  in  the  development  of  a  sentiment  that  encour¬ 
ages  the  organization,  in  nearly  all  American  cities,  of  efficient  boards  of 
health,  and  the  practical  application  of  sanitary  agencies  in  the  prevention 
of  disease.  Great,  however,  as  has  been  the  improvement  in  this  direction, 
there  still  remains  much  to  be  done,  both  to  educate  the  public  mind  to  a 
full  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  hygienic  observance,  and  to  bring  into 
practice  the  needed  reforms.  The  value  of  sanitary  knowledge  has  fre¬ 
quently  been  put  fairly  upon  trial,  and  the  application  of  scientific  measures 
confidently  resorted  to  for  the  protection  of  the  public  health.  In  great 
emergencies,  health  officers  have  staked  their  reputation  on  the  pledge  to 
arrest  the  spread  or  mitigate  the  severity  of  infectious  diseases,  by  ven¬ 
tilation,  by  the  removal  of  filth,  by  the  separation  of  the  sick  from  the 
healthy,  and  by  the  free  use  of  disinfectants,  vaccination,  and  other  rational 
agencies.  Such  tests  have  often  been  forced  upon  the  medical  profession, 
and  that  too  in  communities  determined  not  otherwise  to  be  convinced, 
either  of  the  necessity  or  efficiency  of  sanitary  measures,  but  always  with 
good  results,  which,  if  not  acknowledged  by  the  masses,  were  felt  and  ap¬ 
preciated  by  the  more  intelligent  citizens.  We  must  study  the  antecedent 
habits  and  conditions  of  the  sick,  the  surroundings  of  disease,  and  the  salu¬ 
brity  of  localities.  The  discovery  and  recognition  of  evils  must  precede 
their  removal.  The  repeated  demonstration  of  the  invariable  relation  of 
cause  and  effect  will  finally  convince  the  most  obdurate.  It  is  in  the  neg¬ 
lected  localities,  and  among  the  poorer  classes  of  society  that  sanitary 
regulations  and  appliances  have  won  their  greatest  triumphs.  We  hope  yet 
to  see  hygienic  principles  become  a  part  of  primary  education,  and  we  trust 
that  active  co-workers  will  arise  in  every  community  and  assist  in  a  reform, 
from  which  the  poor  must  reap  the  greatest  benefits.  As  evidencing  the 
progress  that  preventive  medicine  is  making  in  Europe,  I  may  mention  the 
fact  that  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  in  her  speech,  August  13,  1875,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  prorogation  of  Parliament,  paid  a  deserved  and  handsome 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


5 


compliment  to  the  influence  that  sanitary  regulations  have  exerted  in  secur¬ 
ing  better  dwellings  for  the  poor,  and  the  better  protection  of  the  public 
health.  This  recognition,  by  the  head  of  the  most  enlightened  court  in 
Europe,  is  encouraging  to  the  cause,  when  we  consider  that  the  first  sani¬ 
tary  survey  of  the  large  cities  of  Great  Britain  was  made  in  1843,  and  the 
first  general  Public  Health  Act  was  only  passed  August  31,  1848.  France, 
as  early  as  1802,  established  a  Council  of  Health  for  Paris,  and  in  1851  ex¬ 
tended  it  to  the  whole  country.1 

The  progress  of  public  sentiment  concerning  State  Medicine  in  the 
United  States  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  nine  States  have  now  organized 
State  Boards  of  Health  ;2  some  of  them  publish  annually  reports  of  great 
practical  value.  Many  special  inquiries,  instituted  under  the  supervision  of 
these  Boards,  are”  thorough  scientific  examinations  of  the  sanitary  conditions 
affecting  the  health  of  large  communities. 

The  plan  adopted  by  some  of  the  State  Boards,  and  indeed  by  some  City 
Boards,  of  intrusting  the  investigation  of  the  causes  producing  particular 
diseases  to  gentlemen  of  scientific  attainments  and  practical  ability,  though 
not  officially  connected  with  the  respective  organizations,  has  led  to  the 
preparation  of  very  able  papers.3 

1  The  Queen,  in  her  speech,  on  the  occasion  of  the  prorogation  of  Parliament,  says  :  “  I 
have  with  pleasure  given  my  assent  to  an  Act  for  facilitating  the  improvement  of  the  dwell¬ 
ings  of  the  working  classes  in  large  towns,  which  will,  I  trust,  lead  to  the  decrease  of  many 
of  the  principal  causes  of  disease,  misery,  and  crime.  I  feel  sure  that  this  legislation,  to¬ 
gether  with  that  relating  to  the  consolidation  and  amendment  of  the  sanitary  laws  relating 
to  friendly  societies,  will  greatly  promote  the  moral  and  physical  welfare  of  the  people.”  — 
London  Times ,  August  13,  1875. 

2  The  following  are  the  States  that  have  State  Boards  of  Health,  with  the  year  when  es¬ 
tablished.  Those  marked  with  a  star  (*)  publish  reports  annually. 


Alabama 

1875. 

Massachusetts  * 

.  1869. 

California  * 

.  .  1870. 

Michigan  * 

•  1873. 

Georgia 

1874. 

Minnesota* 

.  1872. 

Louisiana  * 

Maryland 

.  .  1870. 

1874. 

Virginia 

1872. 

3  The  following  are  the  titles  of  some  of  the  leading  papers  in  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Health,  —  reports  written  chiefly  by  gentlemen  not  connected  officially  with  the 
Health  Department :  “  Ventilation  of  School-houses,”  by  A.  C.  Martin,  Architect,  1871  ; 
“Arsenic  in  certain  Green  Colors,”  by  Frank  W.  Draper,  M.  D.,  1872  ;  “The  Effect  of 
Sewing  Machines  on  Health,”  by  A.  H.  Nichols,  M.  D.,  1872  ;  “  Vegetable  Parasites, 
and  the  Diseases  caused  by  their  Growth,”  by  J.  C.  White,  M.  D.,  1872  ;  “  Drainage  for 
Health,”  by  H.  F.  French,  1873  >  “  Infant  Mortality,”  by  Edward  Jarvis,  M.  D.,  1873  J 
“The  Food  of  the  People  of  Massachusetts,”  by  George  Darby,  M.  D.,  1873  ;  “Causes 
Antecedent  to  Consumption,”  by  H.  I.  Bowditch,  M.  D.,  1873  J  “  Adulteration,  and  Impu¬ 
rities  of  Food,”  by  H.  B.  Hill,  1873  >  “  Cerebro-Spinal  Meningitis  in  Massachusetts,”  by 
J.  B.  Upham,  M.  D.,  1874;  “Political  Economy  of  Health,”  by  Edward  Jarvis,  M.  D., 
1874  ;  “  School  Hygiene,”  by  F.  Winslow,  M.  D.,  1874  ;  J.  F.  A.  Adams,  M.  D.,  on  the 
“  Health  of  Farmers  of  Massachusetts,”  1874.  Additional  papers  might  be  named  both  in 
the  Massachusetts  reports  and  in  those  of  California,  Michigan,  and  Louisiana,  and  others  of 
much  practical  value.  Alabama  should  perhaps  be  mentioned  ;  her  contributions  are  to  be 
found  in  the  transactions  of  the  Alabama  State  Medical  Association. 

The  special  study  by  Dr.  Baker,  of  the  Michigan  State  Board  of  Health,  on  the  causes 
of  Spinal  Meningitis,  was  admirable  and  thorough.  It  is  probable  that  it  has  not  settled 
any  point  in  dispute  ;  nevertheless,  the  inquiry  was  original  and  specific,  as  to  certain  sup- 


6 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


No  doubt  all  have  observed  with  satisfaction,  that  more  contributions  to 
the  literature  of  State  Medicine  have  been  made  since  our  last  meeting  by 
American  sanitarians,  than  have  been  published  in  any  preceding  year.1 

From  a  correspondence  with  influential  physicians  who  keep  abreast  of 
the  most  advanced  medical  views  and  discoveries,  and  who  are  familiar  with 
the  sentiments  and  wants  of  the  people  in  States  that  have  not  yet  organized 
State  Boards  of  Health,2 1  am  justified  in  saying  that  in  nearly  every  State 


posed  factors,  the  only  plan  that  ever  leads  to  any  real  advancement  or  increase  of  knowl¬ 
edge. 

1  Among  the  publications  of  value  may  be  named,  The  Sanitarian ,  an  ably  con¬ 
ducted  and  permanently  established  journal  devoted  to  the  interests  of  State  Medicine. 

The  volume  of  Vital  Statistics  accompanying  the  last  United  States  Census  has  had  so 
limited  a  circulation,  that  the  number  of  valuable  facts  it  contains  have  scarcely  yet  come 
to  be  appreciated.  It  richly  deserves  to  be  studied. 

Notably  as  a  work  of  great  merit  is  the  publication  by  the  Surgeon-general,  entitled, 
Hygiene  of  the  United  States  Army.  This  work  has  done  for  all  the  posts  of  the  army 
what  I  hope  to  see  accomplished  for  every  part  of  our  country.  In  it  all  factors  of  clim¬ 
ate,  location,  and  the  like  have  been  duly  considered  in  their  effect  upon  health.  Fol¬ 
lowing  the  publication  named  and  from  the  same  department  is  an  admirable  and  exhaus¬ 
tive  report  on  a  plan  for  transporting  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  by  railroad  in  time  of  war, 
by  Dr.  G.  A.  Otis,  Surgeon  United  States  Army.  The  very  excellent  report  on  the  Chol¬ 
era  of  1873,  by  Dr.  Ely  McClellan,  has  already  been  referred  to  in  another  part  of  this 
paper,  as  have  other  valuable  articles  on  sanitary  subjects  in  the  different  State  Boards  of 
Health.  The  reports  of  the  Board  of  Health  of  the  City  of  New  York  are  most  impor¬ 
tant  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  sanitary  laws  and  the  efficiency  of  the  art  in  protect¬ 
ing  public  health.  Philadelphia  and  other  cities  have  also  published  reports  of  their  sani¬ 
tary  condition  and  the  operations  of  their  health  departments  during  the  year,  all  of  which 
show  great  advancement  in  the  hygiene  regulations  of  our  large  cities. 

The  report  on  the  small-pox  epidemic  at  Mobile  in  1874-75,  by  Jerome  Cochran,  M.  D.,  is 
a  contribution  of  much  interest  to  the  practical  sanitarian. 

There  also  have  been  many  special  studies  of  much  interest,  notably  Dr.  Minor’s  “  Scar¬ 
latina  Statistics  of  the  United  States.”  Admirable  articles  relating  to  Preventive  Medi¬ 
cine  have  appeared  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly ,  and  in  other  publications,  which 
evince  the  interest  the  public  takes  in  these  subjects. 

2  The  following  are  the  States  whose  legislatures  have  not  yet  authorized  the  organization 
of  State  Boards  of  Health  and  the  registration  of  vital  statistics.  But  two  States  —  Mas¬ 
sachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  —  have  methods  of  registration  that  give  satisfactory  results. 
States  where  the  question  of  organizing  such  boards  has  been  before  the  legislature,  and  is 
likely  to  come  before  the  next  assembly,  are  marked  with  a  star  (*).  States  marked  with  a 
dagger,  (t)  have  or  have  had  in  the  past  some  system  of  registration  of  vital  statistics  of 
births,  marriages,  and  deaths. 


Arkansas.* 

Connecticut.* 

Delaware. 

Florida.* 

Illinois. 

Indiana.* 

Iowa. 

Kansas. 
Kentucky.*  t 
Maine.* 
Mississippi. 
Missouri.* 

N  ebraska.* 
Nevada. 


New  rlampshire.*  t 
New  Jersey.* 

New  York.* 

North  Carolina. 
Ohio* 

Oregon.* 
Pennsylvania.*  t 
Rhode  Island.! 
South  Carolina. 
Tennessee.* 
Texas.* 

Vermont.* 

West  Virginia.*! 
Wisconsin.* 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


7 


the  medical  profession,  and  the  leading  citizens  of  all  classes,  are  con¬ 
vinced  of  the  utility  of  such  boards,  and  also  of  the  propriety  of  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  a  proper  system  of  registration  of  vital  statistics  ;  and  they  are  mak¬ 
ing  such  representations  to  the  several  legislatures  as  will  secure  their  estab¬ 
lishment  in  all  the  States  within  a  few  years.  The  friends  of  State  Medicine 
everywhere  recognize  the  valuable  aid  that  has  been  given  to  the  cause  by 
the  labors  of  this  Association  in  popularizing  its  purposes,  and  in  making 
evident  its  economic  and  sanitary  advantages.  It  is  earnestly  hoped  that 
the  predictions  of  the  friends  of  hygiene  may  be  speedily  realized,  and  that 
every  State  may  have  its  Board  of  Health  and  registration  of  yital  statistics ; 
and  that  every  city  and  county  within  the  several  States  may  also  have  their 
health  organization  all  working  harmoniously  together. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  1849,  passed  a  law  for  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  three  commissioners  to  make  a  “  Sanitary  Survey  of  the  State.” 
This  commission  consisted  of  three  physicians,  who  made  patient  and  thor¬ 
ough  inquiry  into  the  causes  affecting  the  health  of  the  cities  and  other  lo¬ 
calities,  including  the  various  manufacturing  establishments  throughout  the 
Commonwealth.1 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  all  the  States  do  not,  from  time  to  time,  order 
medical  surveys,  comprehensive  enough  to  embrace  all  the  important  factors 
that  affect  the  health  of  their  citizens. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  repeat  what  has  been  so  often  suggested,  that 
Boards  of  Health —  State  and  municipal  —  ought  to  have  at  least  one  mem¬ 
ber  who  is  a  competent  civil  engineer. 

The  duties  of  sanitary  inspector  are  second  to  those  of  no  official  con¬ 
nected  with  the  preservation  of  the  health  of  a  city.  His  examination,  if 
timely  and  thoroughly  performed,  and  his  sanitary  injunctions  enforced,  will 
often  prevent  the  necessity  for  calling  in  the  clinical  physician,  and  certainly 
“  prevention  is  better  than  cure.”  To  the  unceasing  efforts  of  the  guar¬ 
dians  of  health  is  due  the  fair  degree  of  salubrity  enjoyed  by  cities.  It 
seems  that  great  aggregations  of  human  beings  in  central  marts  are  a  neces¬ 
sity  to  our  form  of  civilization.  It  is  our  aim  to  keep  the  city  as  salubrious 
as  the  country.  Sanitary  science  and  its  appliances  must  meet  these  re¬ 
quirements,  and  preserve  both  to  the  palace  and  the  tenement-house  as 
favorable  hygienic  conditions  as  are  enjoyed  by  the  farm-house  and  rural 
cottage.  This  can  never  be  done  except  by  daily  sanitary  inspection,  and  a 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  requisite  hygienic  regulations.  This  work  of  the 
health  inspector,  like  that  of  the  housewife,  is  never  done. 

Pure  water  for  potable  use  is  essential  to  the  health  of  a  people.  As 
water  is  sometimes  rendered  unfit  for  domestic  use  by  the  soil  and  rock 
strata  through  which  it  percolates,  so,  too,  may  it  be  rendered  dangerous  to 

1  This  commission  made  a  very  comprehensive  report,  which  was  printed  in  1850.  It  is 
a  great  storehouse  of  valuable  information  concerning  the  actual  condition  of  the  public 
health  of  Massachusetts  at  that  time,  and  embraces  all  that  could  be  collected  to  elucidate 
the  application  of  sanitary  science  to  the  protection  of  health.  Although  it  is  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  since  Massachusetts  made  this  report  on  her  sanitary  condition,  not 
one  State  has  imitated  her  example. 


8 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


health  by  becoming  the  vehicle  of  the  germs  of  disease  negligently  strewn 
or  exposed  in  the  vicinity  of  springs  and  wells.  Streams  of  pure  water  may 
also  be  contaminated  by  sewerage  and  offal  from  establishments  and  fac¬ 
tories  emptying  into  them  along  their  course.  By  the  laws  of  the  several 
States,  and  of  the  General  Government,  streams  should  everywhere  be  pro¬ 
tected  from  contamination.  No  defilement  ought  to  be  permitted  that  will 
injure  the  fish  in  them,  or  render  the  water  unfit  for  domestic  use. 

The  principle  must  be  recognized  by  persons  living  along  water-courses, 
that  while  they  have  a  right  to  use  the  water,  they  must  do  so  in  a  manner 
not  to  destroy  the  right  of  their  neighbors.  Precautions  of  this  order  are 
particularly  called  for  along  streams  that  furnish  water  for  domestic  use. 

Some  of  the  oldest  and  best  preserved  architectural  monuments  of  the 
human  race  are  those  connected  with  the  furnishing  water  to  cities,  and  with 
establishments  intended  for  the  promotion  of  the  public  health.1 

The  water  supply  of  a  city  is  of  the  highest  importance,  and  its  free  use, 
though  not  its  waste,  ought  to  be  encouraged.  We  frequently  see  in  water 
registers’  reports  the  complaint  that  too  much  water  is  used  or  wasted,  and 
the  admonition  to  the  community  of  the  threatened  scarcity  in  consequence. 
Inspectors  ought  to  be  charged  with  detecting  unreasonable  waste.  But 
fresh  water  ought  to  be  as  free  as  air,  and  provided  in  great  abundance.  No 
city  ought  to  consider  its  water  supply  satisfactory,  that  cannot  afford  to 
have  fifty  times  as  much  water  wasted  as  is  required  for  strict  domestic  use. 
Closets  left  part  of  the  time  without  water,  or  with  but  insufficient  flow  to 
flush  them,  must  of  necessity  become  foul,  and  defeat  the  best  sanitary  ar¬ 
rangements.  The  more  water  that  can  be  allowed  to  pass  through  closets, 
and  other  house  connections  to  the  sewers,  the  better  it  will  clear  both  the 
pipes  and  the  sewers,  and  thereby  prevent  the  formation  of  dangerous  gases. 
The  various  factories  and  arts  conducted  in  cities,  requiring  water,  ought  to 
supply  themselves  by  boring  artesian  wells.  Every  housekeeper  within  a 
city  corporation  is  entitled  to  an  adequate  amount  of  pure  potable  water.  A 
manufacturing  establishment ,  however ,  has  no  such  claim. 

Among  the  many  suggestions  which  may  be  made  in  furtherance  of  the 
collection  of  facts  that  are  of  interest  to  the  medical  profession,  I  venture 
to  mention  that  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  taking  meteorological  observa- 

1  Some  of  the  finest  and  most  ancient  engineering  monuments  of  the  human  race,  are 
those  that  were  connected  with  sewerage,  drainage,  irrigation,  ayd  water  supplies  to  cities, 
and  with  establishments  intended  for  the  promotion  of  the  public  health.  The  Aqueduct 
known  as  the  “  Pont  du  Gard,”  near  Nismes  in  France,  and  the  ruins  of  the  superb  Nym- 
phseum  or  baths  are  among  the  most  imposing  remains  of  ancient  architecture.  They 
are  of  Roman  construction,  but  of  what  date  is  unknown.  An  aqueduct  built  by  Quintus 
Sertorius  seventy-five  years  b.  c.,  at  Evora  or  Ebora,  Portugal,  is,  or  was  in  good  condition 
but  a  few  years  since.1  It  is  probable  that  it  has  been  permitted  to  get  out  of  repair,  as  the 
beautiful  circular  castellum  or  tower  which  terminated  the  aqueduct  has,  according  to  the 
accounts  of  recent  travellers,  been  demolished,  that  a  public  market  might  occupy  the  site. 
Thus  has  been  destroyed  within  our  own  time  one  of  the  most  beautiful  relics  of  Roman 
architecture  that  remained  in  the  world.  But  what  of  sentiment  could  be  expected  of  a 
people  who,  in  the  same  city,  permitted  the  beautiful  Temple  of  Diana  to  be  used  as  a 
slaughter-house. 

1  James  Murphy,  Travels  in  Portugal. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


9 


tions.  Men  live  and  carry  on  all  their  various  avocations  in  an  atmosphere 
only  a  few  feet  above  the  earth.  A  more  important  and  comprehensive  record 
of  the  actual  meteorological  phenomena  occurring  in  the  limited  belt  or  sphere 
of  man’s  activities,  might  be  obtained,  if  all  observations  of  temperature, 
moisture,  rainfall,  electricity,  etc.,  were  taken  close  to  the  earth.  I  allude  to 
the  subject  with  a  view  to  encourage  an  exact  uniformity  of  elevation  and 
exposure  of  instruments  in  making  observations.  We  are  particularly  in¬ 
terested  in  the  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  we  breathe,  and  should  desire 
to  know  its  exact  conditions  and  extremes  of  variations.  It  is  a  well-ascer¬ 
tained  fact,  that  the  rain-gauge  registers  in  the  same  locality  more  at  the 
earth’s  surface  than  when  placed  at  a  considerable  height.  Changes  of 
temperature,  too,  are  effected  by  elevation,  by  radiation  from  the  earth  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  seasons,  and  during  the  different  hours  of  day  and  night. 
The  thermometer  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  placed  close  to  the  earth,  and 
never  more  than  five  feet  above  it,  and  be  remote  from  buildings  shaded 
from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  ;  but  exposed  to  the  free  currents  of  air, 
though  cut  off  from  the  radiated  heat  from  the  ground. 

We  are  gratified  to  observe  that  the  importance  of  hygiene  and  sanitary 
inquiries  engaged  the  attention  of  the  last  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
which  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  Surgeon-general  of  the  Army,  and  the 
chief  of  the  Marine  Hospital  Service,  to  investigate  the  history  and  cause  of 
the  cholera  epidemic  of  1873,  anc^  °f  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  during  the 
same  year  —  the  first  named  to  report  on  cholera,  and  the  latter  on  yellow 
fever.1  The  researches  of  these  departments  have  resulted  in  the  publica¬ 
tion  of  valuable  reports,  which  have  added  much  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
history  and  characteristics  of  these  diseases.  Congress,  too,  with  an  awak¬ 
ening  sense  of  its  duties  and  responsibilities,  is  beginning  to  consider  the 
subject  of  the  food  supply  of  the  people.  This  indeed  is  a  most  important 
question  to  every  government.  An  Act  of  Congress  of  1873,  authorized  the 
organization  of  a  “  United  States  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries;”  the 
labors  of  this  commission  are  chiefly  directed  to  an  investigation  of  the  food 
fishes  of  the  American  coast  and  rivers.2 

1  Dr.  Ely  McClellan,  of  the  United  States  Army,  was  assigned  to  this  duty  by  the  Sur¬ 
geon-general.  His  report  has  just  been  given  to  the  public,  and  is,  in  my  opinion,  the 
most  careful  and  exhaustive  clinical  history  of  an  epidemic  of  cholera  ever  published. 
The  bibliography  of  cholera,  which  accompanies  the  report,  furnished  by  Dr.  J.  S.  Billings, 
will  prove  of  great  value  to  all  students  and  writers  upon  this  disease. 

Dr.  Frank  W.  Reily,  of  the  Marine  Hospital  Service,  has  made  a  comprehensive  report 
on  the  yellow  fever  of  1873,  which  has  been  published  by  the  Marine  Hospital  Depart¬ 
ment. 

2  Professor  Spencer  F.  Baird  was  appointed  Commissioner,  and  has  made  a  most  valu¬ 
able  report  on  the  “  Condition  of  the  Sea  Fisheries  of  the  South  Coast  of  New  England.” 
This  report  touches  upon  almost  every  question  relating  to  the  food  fishes  of  America,  and 
shows  their  economic  value  to  the  nation  and  their  importance  to  the  people.  Our  govern¬ 
ment  is  from  time  to  time  founding  new  departments  in  the  interest  of  its  citizens.  Thus, 
the  Interior  Department  was  established  by  law,  March  3,  1849.  The  Secretary  of  the  In¬ 
terior  has  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  and  is  the  head  of  all  the  home  departments,  such  as  the 
Land,  the  Pension,  and  Patent  offices.  The  Agricultural  Department  was  made  independ¬ 
ent  May  15,  1862.  The  Bureau  of  Education  was  created  by  law,  March  2,  1867,  and  sim¬ 
ilar  institutions  followed  in  regular  sequence.  It  is  believed  by  many  that  a  Bureau  of  Vital 
Statistics  ought  now  to  be  established. 


10 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


This  action  of  the  government  suggests  an  extension  of  the  principle  to 
other  matters  intimately  connected  with  the  obligation  to  consider  all  the 
conditions  that  relate  to  feeding,  clothing,  housing,  and  the  general  well¬ 
being  of  the  people. 

The  meteorological  observations  being  collected  so  systematically,  and 
from  all  parts  of  our  country,  by  the  United  States  Signal  Office,  present  a 
vast  field  for  the  study  of  the  influence  of  climate,  storms,  and  the  like, 
upon  health.  The  facts  collected  by  this  department  are  yearly  coming  to 
be  more  sought  after  by  the  physician.  There  is  no  occupation  or  mode  of 
life  that  does  not  deserve  to  be  investigated  as  to  its  influence  upon  health. 
Man’s  surroundings,  his  domicile,  his  clothing,  his  food,  his  habits,  in  child¬ 
hood,  in  mature  years,  and  in  old  age,  all  should  be  observed,  with  a  view  to 
discover  the  conditions  which  develop  the  highest  vigor  of  body  and  mind, 
and  secure  the  greatest  longevity.  We  assume  that  life  is  a  blessing.  To 
preserve  it  is  a  duty,  if  not  a  virtue.  No  circumstance  is,  therefore,  trivial, 
that  can  unfavorably  affect  health  or  shorten  our  existence.  Man’s  social 
instinct  and  moral  nature  in  a  measure  make  him  “  his  brother’s  keeper.” 
It  is  surely,  therefore,  a  natural,  if  not  a  Christian  duty,  resting  upon  all  per¬ 
sons  possessing  the  knowledge,  —  to  point  out  the  physical  evils  which  flow 
from  bad  habits,  and  from  the  neglect  of  hygiene. 

The  statement  is  often  made,  and  is  generally  believed,  that  residents  of 
rural  districts  enjoy  a  higher  average  degree  of  health,  physical  strength, 
and  a  greater  longevity  than  those  who  live  in  cities.  If  this  opinion  be 
correct,  what  are  the  conditions  that  secure  such  results  ?  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  regular  habits,  as  well  as  fresh  food  and  pure  air,  have  much  to 
do  in  the  attainment  of  this  higher  degree  of  vitality  which  common  belief 
assigns  to  a  rural  life.  A  philosopher  says  :  “  Habits  make  the  man.”  One 
of  the  most  notable  differences  in  the  habits  of  the  two  is  in  the  hours 
chosen  for  retiring.  Country  people  undoubtedly  sleep  more,  and  have 
fewer  disturbances  during  the  night  than  the  residents  of  cities.  Can  it  be 
that  peaceful  lives,  with  abundance  of  sleep,  are  the  chief  factors  in  securing 
vigor,  good  health,  and  longevity?  It  seems  probable  that  such  is  the  case. 
Examples  in  confirmation  of  this  view,  will,  I  believe,  occur  to  every  one. 
The  want  of  sufficient  sleep  at  the  proper  time  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  fruitful 
cause  of  disordered  functions  and  impaired  health. 

It  is  not  likely  that  any  suggestions  of  mine  will  lead  to  reform  in  this 
particular,  but  it  is  not,  therefore,  the  less  a  duty  t©  point  out  what  contrib¬ 
utes  to  vicious  habits,  and  indicate  the  causes  that  are  probably  involved  in 
the  deterioration  of  the  vital  forces. 

As  conducing  to  an  amendment  in  this  regard,  I  would  suggest  that  in 
cities  all  licensed  restaurants  and  bars  should  be  required  by  law  to  close  at 
ten  o’clock,  and  that  theatres,  and  other  places  of  amusement,  commence  at 
seven  o’clock,  so  as  to  close  at  ten,  or  eleven  at  the  latest.  If  it  were  pos¬ 
sible  to  add  one  hour  each  night  to  the  sleep  of  the  residents  of  cities,  I  feel 
persuaded  it  would  do  much  to  elevate  morals  and  preserve  health. 

A  great  American  statesman  is  reported  to  have  said  that  large  cities  are 
the  plague  spots  of  nations.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not  in  a  political  sense, 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  II 

there  are  many  who  believe  that  cities  are  in  clanger  of  becoming  amenable 
to  the  charge  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view.  The  overcrowding  that  always 
takes  place  is  to  be  deplored,  and  deserves  the  attention  of  statesmen  and 
legislators.  Large  aggregations  of  people  are  constantly  in  a  condition  to 
be  surprised  by  some  contagious  disease.  Is  it  not  reasonable  that  health 
organizations  should  in  some  way  favor  cheap  transportation  from  cities  into 
the  country,  so  as  to  relieve  the  crowding  of  tenement  houses.1 2  A  measure 
of  this  kind,  with  a  homestead  exemption  law,  which  would  secure  a  cheap 
home,  even  thirty  miles  from  the  city,  with  a  lot  for  a  garden  to  the  head  of 
a  family,  might  do  something  to  encourage  a  considerable  number  to  live  in 
the  country,  who  now  crowd  into  all  sorts  of  abodes  in  large  cities. 

A  homestead  exemption  law  would  probably  give  great  encouragement  to 
the  poor  of  economic  disposition,  and  who  would  take  advantage  of  it  for 
the  sake  of  a  home  where  they  might  hope  to  raise  their  children  to  adult 
life,  to  do  which  is  next  to  impossible  in  crowded  cities.  A  law  of  this 
nature,  or  any  other  measure  that  would  multiply  small  homes,  and  encour¬ 
age  rural  life  and  garden  culture,  ought  to  be  welcomed,  since  it  is  a  recog¬ 
nized  principle  in  political  economy  that  the  greater  the  number  of  small 
land-owners,  the  greater  the  strength  and  stability  of  a  nation. 

Among  the  multitude  of  questions  that  press  for  consideration,  there  is 
one  upon  which  I  wish  to  say  a  word,  as  I  understand  it  to  be  a  usage,  in 
some  localities,  and  which  I  am  sure  all  will  agree  in  condemning  as  heart¬ 
less  and  inhuman,  namely,  the  practice  of  not  removing  a  drowned  person 
from  the  water  immediately  on  discovery.  Man’s  better  instincts  revolt  at 
so  barbarous  a  custom.  I  am  informed  that  the  opinion  prevails,  that  in¬ 
dividuals  render  themselves  liable  to  prosecution  if  they  meddle  with  a 
drowned  body,  even  to  attempt  resuscitation,  until  the  coroner  arrives 
and  assumes  control.  Such  delay  and  inference  as  to  any  law  upon  the 
subject  ought  not  to  be  sanctioned  by  our  silence,  as  it  is  contrary  both  to 
the  dictates  of  humanity  and  public  policy.  In  cases  of  recent  drowning, 
not  a  moment  should  be  lost  in  removing  the  body  from  the  water.  It  is 
well  known  that  many  lives  have  been  saved  even  in  cases  of  apparently 
complete  drowning,  by  prompt,  intelligent,  and  persistent  efforts  at  resuscita¬ 
tion.  When  a  body  that  has  not  been  longer  than  thirty  or  forty  minutes 
under  water  can  be  recovered,  attempts  to  effect  a  revival  should  be  imme¬ 
diately  commenced,  by  all  such  manipulations  as  will  imitate  natural  breath¬ 
ing,  whether  in  a  boat  or  on  shore,  and  they  should  be  continued  for  more 
than  half  an  hour.  Any  neglect  of  this  duty  ought  to  be  esteemed  highly 
reprehensible.3 

1  The  running  of  trains  at  cheap  rates  of  fare,  morning  and  evening,  was  begun  as  an 
experiment  in  Boston  in  November,  1872.  The  trains  run  at  hours  to  suit  the  laboring 
classes  finding  employment  in  the  city,  —  the  fare  being  but  five  cents  each  way,  as  far  as 
Lynn,  which  is  twelve  miles.  From  the  pages  of  the  Sanitarian  of  July,  1875,  I  learn  that 
the  project  is  encouraging  many  to  live  in  comfort  in  the  country  with  their  families,  that 
hitherto  had  been  crowded  in  a  single  room  in  a  city.  I  trust  that  other  large  centres  of 
population  will  imitate  this  example,  and  that,  added  to  cheap  fare  may  be  some  legislation 
that  will  secure  a  homestead,  free  from  levy  and  execution,  to  heads  of  families. 

2  I  have  alluded  to  this  matter,  because  several  distressing  cases  of  drowning  have  oc- 


12 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


If  the  health  and  police  regulations  of  cities  having  water  fronts,  do  not 
contain  laws  in  accordance  with  these  principles,  they  must,  I  think,  be  con¬ 
sidered  defective,  and  should  at  once  be  amended.  The  sentiment,  too, 
ought  to  be  widely  inculcated  among  all  classes  that  it  is  man’s  imperative 
duty  in  every  case  of  recent  drowning  to  instantly  remove  the  body  from  the 
water  and  to  make  every  endeavor  to  induce  resuscitation. 

A  Commission  on  Forestry  for  the  United  States  was  discussed  at  the  last 
Congress,  but  failed  to  become  a  law,  though  the  expediency  of  establishing 
some  means  to  preserve  the  natural  forests  from  wanton  or  negligent  de¬ 
struction,  as  well  as  the  foundation  of  a  systematic  and  comprehensive  plan 
for  planting  trees,  was  fully  brought  before  the  public,  in  the  discussion  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  particularly  in  the  report  upon  the  sub¬ 
ject  made  by  the  “Committee  on  the  Public  Lands,”1  which  recommended 
the  enactment  of  a  law  for  the  appointment  of  a  commission. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  rapid  exhaustion  of  the  great  forests  of 
our  country  has  wrought  important  changes  in  our  climate,  disturbing  the 
regular  and  equal  distribution  of  rain. 

Too  much  importance  cannot  be  attached  to  the  planting  and  preserva¬ 
tion  of  trees,  not  only  in  the  country  but  along  all  streets,  and  in  every  prac¬ 
ticable  locality  in  cities.  Their  vigorous  growth  along  streets  will  shield 
from  the  glare  of  the  sun,  and  if  numerous,  preserve  by  their  refrigeration  a 
slightly  lower  temperature  in  summer,  and  lessen  the  amount  of  dust  on 
thoroughfares,  and  thus  add  to  comfort  and  health  during  the  heated  term. 
The  question  of  the  importance  of  preserving  timber  for  climatic,  economic, 
and  hygienic  purposes  will,  it  is  understood,  be  presented  to. this  Associa¬ 
tion  by  a  gentleman  who  has  given  great  attention  to  the  subject.2 

curred  during  the  summer  when  all  such  effort  seems  to  have  been  neglected.  In  the  case  of 
the  drowning  at  the  New  Jersey  Ferry  wharf  in  the  city  of  New  York,  August  16,  1875,  °f 
Robert  C.  Belville,  Esq.,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  the  New  York  papers  stated  the  body  was  se¬ 
cured  “within  twenty  or  twenty-five  minutes  after  immersion.”  Instead  of  being  taken  out 
of  the  water,  it  was  tied  to  the  wharf,  and  remained  in  the  water  for  several  hours.  Even 
when  the  friends  of  the  unfortunate  man  had  identified  the  body,  it  was  not  given  up  to 
them  until  the  coroner  could  be  found  to  give  directions.  The  drowning  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Porteus  of  “  All  Soul’s  ”  Church,  Brooklyn,  who,  while  sailing,  was  capsized  and  drowned 
near  shore,  at  Sea  Cliff,  L.  I.,  is  another  case  in  point.  According  to  the  New  York  Herald , 
the  senseless  body  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Porteus  was  secured  by  parties  in  a  yawl.  Instead  of 
lifting  it  into  their  boat,  they  towed  it  ashore,  and  even  then,  the  superstition  or  ignorance 
of  the  people  prevented  them  from  taking  it  out  of  the  water ,  and  no  efforts  were  made  to¬ 
wards  resuscitation  !  In  this  instance  the  body  had  been  recovered  within  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  after  the  upsetting  of  the  boat,  and  when  it  was  still  quite  probable  that  life  could 
have  been  saved.  Another  case  is  that  of  the  death  of  W.  C.  Ralston  of  California.  His 
body  was  recovered,  and,  I  believe,  taken  out  of  the  water  within  a  very  brief  time  after 
exhaustion  or  apparent  death  had  taken  place,  but  I  have  failed  to  learn  that  any  efforts  at 
resuscitation  were  made. 

1  Mr.  Dunnell  made  a  most  comprehensive  and  valuable  report  (being  No.  259,  1st 
Session  43d  Congress),  covering  the  whole  question  of  the  quantity  of  timber  in  the  United 
States,  the  rapidity  with  which  it  is  disappearing,  its  importance  to  the  economic  enter¬ 
prises  of  the  country,  and,  incidentally,  the  question  of  the  influence  of  its  disappearance 
on  our  climatology.  The  testimony  of  the  pioneers  of  our  western  territory,  as  well  as 
facts  gathered  from  the  history  of  other  countries,  goes  to  show  that  the  rainfall  in  a  region 
without  timber  is  much  less  than  after  forests  have  been  planted  and  cared  for  by  man. 

2  Dr.  Franklin  B.  Hough,  of  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  1 3 


Our  country  during  the  past  year  has  been  free  from  severe  epidemics. 
Yellow  fever  appeared  in  some  of  our  seaport  cities.  At  Key  West,  and  at 
Pensacola,  Fla.,  where  the  government  maintains  both  a  military  and  a 
naval  station,  this  disease  appeared  ;  also  at  Milton,  Fla.,  at  West  Pasca¬ 
goula,  Miss.,  and  at  Howell’s  Station,  twenty-five  miles  above  Pensacola; 
and  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  and  at  New  Orleans,  La.  It  was  also  taken  to  Brook¬ 
lyn,  N.  Y.,  but  by  energetic  measures  of  quarantine,  and  other  hygienic 
and  sanitary  measures,  the  scourge  of  the  Gulf  seaports  was  suppressed 
wherever  it  appeared,  not,  however,  until  a  number  of  deaths  had  occurred.1 

The  Marine  Hospital  Service,  and  the  local  government  authorities  in  the 
South,  have  been  working  harmoniously  and  efficiently  together  during  the 
past  season  under  an  old  law  of  the  United  States,  requiring  the  coopera¬ 
tion  of  the  revenue  and  military  forces  with  the  State  health  or  quarantine 
officers  for  the  protection  of  the  public  health. 

Among  the  preventable  diseases,  diphtheria  has  been  fatal  to  a  degree  that 
attracts  special  attention  in  the  mortuary  reports  2  of  the  cities  of  New 
York,  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  and  Boston.  Small¬ 
pox,  too,  has  persisted  in  claiming  an  excessive  percentage  of  deaths  in  the 
cities  of  New  York,  Brooklyn,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  and  other  places. 

Next  to  sewerage  and  drainage  in  its  importance  to  health,  we  may  place 
the  lighting  and  ventilation  of  dwellings.  Few  others  than  physicians  and 
health  inspectors,  who  are  called  upon  to  attend  the  poor  of  large  cities, 
crowded  into  tenement-houses,  cellars,  and  garrets,  can  realize  to  what  ex¬ 
tent  the  breath,  perspiration,  and  other  excretions  from  the  human  body, 
detained  in  clothing  or  apartments,  poison  the  atmosphere  in  which  these 
people  live.  Often  people  of  this  class  are  so  crowded  together,  that  they 
are  slowly  but  surely  becoming  their  own  executioners,  and  with  poisons 
excreted  from  their  own  bodies.  It  is  not  generally  realized  that  the  ex¬ 
creta  from  the  lungs  and  skin  are  greater  in  weight,  for  the  twenty-four 
hours,  than  those  from  the  kidneys  and  bowels.3 

This,  I  apprehend,  is  contrary  to  the  popular  belief,  yet  it  is  nevertheless 

1  Dr.  J.  A.  Bradford,  of  Pascagoula,  Miss.,  died  August  12,  1875.  Surgeon  G.  M.  Stein¬ 
berg,  of  the  U.  S.  A.,  was  attacked,  but  recovered.  The  whole  number  of  attacks 
amounted  to  about  three  hundred. 

2  See  monthly  synopsis  of  monthly  mortality  in  our  large  cities,  in  the  Sanitarian. 

3  The  Lungs.  —  From  an  examination  of  the  results  of  eighteen  experiments  of  the  quan¬ 
tity  by  weight  of  matter  thrown  off  by  the  lungs  in  twenty-four  hours,  I  find  the  average  to 
be  787. 1 78-]- grammes, "equivalent  to  25.3  1+  ounces. 

The  Skin.  —  The  average  weight  of  rfiatter  excreted  by  the  skin  in  twenty-four  hours,  as 
given  by  twenty  experiments,  is  1,074.811+ grammes,  equivalent  t'o  34.56+  ounces. 

The  Kidneys .  —  The  average  weight  of  matter  excreted  by  the  kidneys  in  twenty-four 
hours,  in  twenty-five  experiments,  is  1,298.76+ grammes,  equivalent  to  45.89+ ounces  — 
fluid. 

The  Alimentary  Canal.  —  The  average  weight  of  matter  excreted  by  the  bowels  in 
twenty-four  hours,  as  given  by  fifteen  experiments,  is  151.48+ grammes,  equivalent  to 
4.87+  ounces. 

The  average  amount  of  food  taken  in  twenty-four  hours,  as  given  by  twelve  experiments, 
is  2,590.758+ grammes,  equivalent  to  80.30+ ounces.  The  experiments  are  too  few  to 
establish  a  law.  The  whole  weight  is  less  than  the  average  amount  excreted. 

The  total  average  weight  of  the  excreta  from  the  human  body  in  twenty-four  hours,  as 
ascertained  from  fifty-five  experiments,  is  3,312.229  grammes,  equal  to  106.502+ ounces. 


14 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


true.  The  excretions  first  named,  too,  are  very  minutely  divided,  and  there¬ 
fore  become  at  once  disseminated  through  the  air  of  confined  rooms,  —  and 
the  poor  of  whom  I  speak,  in  cities  have  no  other,  —  which  is  again  taken 
into  the  lungs  with  every  breath,  and  thus  slowly  but  surely  infuses  a  debili¬ 
tating,  or  may  be  a  deadly  poison  into  the  system. 

Every  apartment,  when  occupied  by  a  number  of  persons  for  ten  or  a 
dozen  hours,  requires  its  vacation  for  rest  and  recovery  from  the  exhaustion 
of  its  pure  air.  All  sleeping  as  well  as  working  rooms  ought  to  have  their 
period  of  regular  daily  free  ventilation,  so  as  to  fully  drive  out  all  deterio¬ 
rated  or  foul  air. 

To  make  more  apparent  the  necessity  for  free  airing  of  clothing,  and  ven¬ 
tilation  of  all  rooms  occupied  by  man,  I  have  compiled  a  table  of  the 
amount  in  weight  of  the  excreta  from  the  human  body  in  twenty-four  hours, 
as  ascertained  by  fifty-five  experimenters.  The  lungs  and  skin  throw  off  an 
average  of  1.88 i-j-  grammes,  and  the  kidneys  and  bowels  average  1.449-)- 
grammes.  The  Table  is  presented  on  pages  16-21. 

A  knowledge  of  these  facts  may  assist  the  mind  to  comprehend  the  sources 
of  danger,  and  the  necessity  for  free  and  complete  ventilation  of  apartments 
where  men  dwell  or  labor.  Rooms  that  have  much  old  furniture,  clothing, 
or  bedding  require  not  only  free  air,  but  sunshine,  and  soap  and  water  to 
cleanse  them  and  dispel  the  odors  acquired  from  filthy  bodies  and  untidy  hab¬ 
its  in  confined  apartments.  Indeed,  there  are  in  the  quarters  of  the  poor, 
often  bed-clothing,  garments,  and  furniture  that  are  actually  dangerous  to 
health,  and  that  ought  to  be  declared  a  nuisance  because  of  the  foul  odors 
that  emanate  from  them. 

But  as  ventilation  will  be  discussed  at  this  meeting  by  several  able  sanita¬ 
rians,  I  feel  justified  in  passing  the  subject  with  these  few  remarks. 

Drainage  must  always  be  one  of  the  most  important  of  sanitary  measures. 
The  best  means  to  effect  the  sewerage  of  cities  is  the  great  problem  in  san¬ 
itary  science,  and  has  engaged  the  attention  of  the  most  eminent  engineers 
in  Europe  and  America.  Much  progress  has  undoubtedly  been  made  in 
both  sewerage  and  drainage,  but  the  question  of  the  character,  location,  and 
construction  of  works  of  this  kind  which  in  the  past  so  largely  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  sanitary  physician,  is  with  propriety  and  advantage  now 
mainly  remanded  to  the  practical  engineer. 

But  as  the  sewerage  of  cities  is  among  the  questions  which  will  probably 
be  presented  by  others,  and  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  treated  much  more 
ably  than  I  could  hope  to  do,  I  shall  confine  my  remarks  to  the  general 
question  of  the  drainage  of  rural  districts,  and  the  reclaiming  of  the  marsh 
and  swamp  lands  of  our  country.  The  extent  of  this  class  of  lands  is  much 
greater  than  is  generally  supposed,  and  their  unfavorable  influence  on  health 
as  well  as  their  tendency  to  check  the  advance  of  population  and  limit  the 
amount  of  productive  soil,  more  positive.  The  possibility  of  increasing  the 
areas  of  cultivable  lands,  and  cheapening  the  value  of  fertile  soil  for  small 
homesteads,  adding  thereby  to  the  abundance,  and  lessening  the  cost  of 
table  supplies,  deserves  attention.  There  must  exist  a  relation  between  tidy 
homes,  industrious  habits,  and  the  cheapness  and  abundance  of  food  con- 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  1 5 

sumed  by  a  people,  and  their  moral  and  physical  condition.  Neither  in¬ 
sufficient  nor  inferior  food,  nor  filthy  habitations,  will  develop  physical  vigor, 
good  morals,  noble  instincts,  or  inspire  to  brave  deeds.  Much  of  the  land 
in  question,  and  capable  of  reclamation,  lies  along  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic. 
Although  geologists  say  the  eastern  coast  of  the  continent  is  subsiding  at  a 
rate  of  perhaps  one  foot  in  a  hundred  years,  yet  the  encroachment  of  the  sea 
upon  the  land  has  in  historical  times  not  been  appreciable  to  the  ordinary 
observer.  But  even  if  this  action  be  going  on,  the  invasion  of  the  land  by 
water  will  not  be  sufficient  to  disturb  coast  improvements  for  thousands  of 
years  to  come. 

The  shore  of  the  Atlantic  coast  along  the  northeastern  States  is  formed  by 
the  native  and  undisturbed  rock.  But  southward  from  the  harbor  of  Boston 
much  of  the  shore  is  lined  with  alluvial  deposits  varying  from  ioo  to  900 
feet  in  depth.  Here  the  shore  lines  are  subject  to  change  from  abrasion 
by  the  waves  and  by  the  formation  or  disappearance  of  sand  reefs. 

Long  Branch,  and  the  New  Jersey  coast  in  the  vicinity  has  suffered  from 
this  circumstance  a  loss  of  two  hundred  feet  in  breadth  of  its  shore  land  in 
the  course  of  forty  years.  Sand  reefs  are  constantly  forming  and  changing 
in  certain  localities,  and  generally  in  parallel  lines  with  the  shore.  Cobb’s 
Island,  off  the  southern  coast  of  Virginia,  is  enlarging  some  twenty  feet  a 
year.  These  formations  are  also  growing  and  enlarging  on  the  North  Caro¬ 
lina  coast  and  other  localities.  In  some  places  the  reefs  are  gradually  ele¬ 
vated  above  tide  by  deposits  of  drift  washed  in  from  the  sea,  and  by  material 
brought  down  from  more  elevated  lands  in  the  vicinity.  Sand  dunes  are 
formed  in  favorable  localities  by  the  winds  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  from  New 
England  as  far  south  as  Florida  and  Texas.  They  are  also  found  at  San  Fran¬ 
cisco  and  other  places  on  the  Pacific.  The  remarkable  projections  into  the 
sea  of  Cape  Cod  and  Cape  Hatteras  on  the  Atlantic  coast  are  alluvial  or  drift, 
probably  the  result  of  glacial  action  on  the  high  mountains  in  the  vicinity.1 

The  soil  of  Florida,  resting  chiefly  upon  coral  reefs,  has  gained  much 
from  the  erosion  of  the  lofty  mountains  in  Northern  Georgia. 

Many  of  the  lagoons  and  swamps  enclosed  between  these  accretions  and 
the  main  land  are  for  a  time  partially  land-locked  bodies  of  brackish  water. 
They  gradually  become  shallow,  and  form  reedy  swamps,  which  in  such 
condition  are  usually  unhealthy ;  but  when  they  are  filled  up  or  drained,  they 
become  arable  and  salubrious. 

Hon.  George  P.  Marsh,  in  a  note  to  his  work,  “  The  Earth  as  Modified  by 
Man”  (p.  533),  states  that  the  Val  de  Chiana  in  Tuscany  was  once  a  large 
marsh,  which  remained  for  many  years  so  unhealthy  that  the  swallows  did 
not  visit  it.  These  marshes  have,  however,  by  draining  been  largely  re¬ 
claimed  to  agriculture  and  salubrity. 

Through  the  kindness  of  P.  C.  Patterson,  Superintendent  of  the  United 
States  Coast  Survey,  I  am  enabled  to  present  the  following  estimated 
areas  of  overflowed  lands  in  the  several  States  along  the  Atlantic  a?id  Gulf 
coasts. 

These  statements  are  to  be  considered  as  approximate,  because  surveys 
1  The  White  Mountains  of  N.  H.,  and  the  Bald  Mountain  of  N.  C. 


1 6 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


Tables  of  the  Weights  of  the  Excretions  from  the  Human  Body 

giving  the  original  weight, 


Experimenter. 


Abernathy,  John.  Todd’s  Cyclop.,  vol.  iv., 
pt.  ii.,  p.  842. 

Allen  &  Pepys.  Muller’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p. 

325- 

Andral  &  Gavarret.  Longet,  Traite  de 
Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  532. 

Becquerel.  Lehman’s  Phys.  Chem.,  vol.  ii., 
P-  157- 

Becquerel  &  Rodier.  Traite  de  Chim. 
Path.,  p.  273. 


Blumenbach.  Phys.,  p.113 . 

Carpenter,  Wm.  B.  Phys.,  p.  578. 


Cruikshank.  Todd’s  Cyclop.  ,vol.  iv.,  pt. 
ii.,  p.  842. 

Dalton.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  725. .. 


Dalton,  J.  C.  Jr.  Phys.,  p.  370. 


Davy.  Muller’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  325 . 

Dodart.  Todd’s  Cyclop.,  vol.  iv.,  pt.  ii., 
p.  842. 

Draper,  John  C.  Draper’s  Anat.  Phys.  and 
Hyg.,  p.  1 13. 


Dumas.  Marshall’s  Outlines  of  Phys.,  p.  827 

Edwards,  Milne  H.  Lemons  sur  la  Phys., 
vol.  ii.,  p.  504. 

Grehant,  Nestor.  Robin’s  Jour,  de  1’  Anat. 
et  de  la  Phys.,  July,  1864,  p  523,  et  seq. 

Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Flint’s  Phys.,  vol.  ii., 
P-  395- 

Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc., 
vol.  lxii.,  1856,  p.  330. 


Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc., 
loc.  cit. 


Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc., 
loc.  cit. 


Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc., 
loc.  cit. 


Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc. 


Lungs. 


.w>  p  S 

<u  <u*2 
!>  .>  <U 

>  Sc& 


[8,612  gr. 


16  to  20  oz. 

h2o. 


.630  lbs. 

co2. 

.115  lbs. 
H,0. 


17,811  gr. 


9,800  gr. 


O  S  a 


^  |  s 

(A  m8 


,206.38 

984 


497.6+  to 
622.0+ 


608.99+ 

co2. 

418.14+ 

H,0. 


t, 153-44 


464 

635-28 

746.4 

1,108.5 


Skin. 


« 

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W)  c  £ 
*5  <D  •  + 

<d 


2\  lbs 


2  lbs. 


7  lb.  6  oz. 


[.930  lbs. 


40  oz.  3  dr. 
26  gr. 

26  oz.  46  gr. 


C/5.1/3 
CD  JJ'C 

y  5  a 
*8  «  E 
«  m8 


933-o 


746.4 


720.27+ 


1,257.34 

811.58 

664 


Kidneys. 


%  W  v 
S  >•  £ 
Me  £ 


2,1 57  lbs, 


36.55  oz. 


43.56  oz. 


31.18  oz. 


34-78  oz. 


-o  £  p 

CD  ~ 

(A  &8 


',267.3 

',371-7 

',337-489 

'•227.779 


1,446.0 
1)535  ° 
1,448.0 
804.99+ 


[,106 


1,136.785 

1,354.716 

999-554 

969.698 

1,081.967 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  1 7 

in  Twenty-four  Hours ,  as  determined  by  different  Experimenters , 
and  same  reduced  to  grammes} 


Alimentary 

Canal. 

Weight  of 
Body. 

Quantity  of 
Food  Taken. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 

given  by  Ex¬ 

perimenter. 

Reduced  to 

grammes  for 

comparison. 

149 

30 

191  , 
132.60-I- 

2,714.0 

2,877.0 

2,924.0 

2,698.25 

.358  lb. 

140  lbs. 

7.230  lbs. 

159 

2,373 

5.24  oz. 

162.964-J- 

205  lbs. 

205  lbs. 

205  lbs. 

205  lbs. 

205  lbs. 

71  oz. 

71  oz. 

71  oz. 

71  oz. 

71  oz. 

2,208.1 

2,208.1 

2,208.1 

2,208.1 

2,208.1 

Remarks  descriptive  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  experiments  were  made,  given  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  language  of  the  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 


Experiment  continued  six  hours  on  hand,  which 
was  assumed  equal  to  i-6oth  of  whole  body. 


Experiment  on  thirty-seven  men  and  twenty- 
six  women. 

Mean  of  observations  on  four  men. 

Mean  of  observations  on  four  women. 
Experiment  on  a  woman,  the  average  being 
1282.634  grammes  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Experiment  on  a  man. 

In  a  well-grown  adult,  the  integument  estimated 
at  fifteen  square  feet. 


Experiment  on  hand,  continued  one  hour. 

Experiments  in  March. 

Experiments  in  June. 

Experiments  in  September. 

The  quantity  of  food  taken  was,  oxygen,  1.470 
lbs. ;  H20,  4.535  lbs. ;  albuminous  matter, 
.305  lb.,  starch,  .660  lb. ;  fats,  .220  lb. ;  salt, 
.040  lb.  A  quantity  of  matter  equal  to  the 
weight  of  the  body  passes  through  the  system 
in  twenty  days. 

During  summer  months. 

During  winter  months. 

“In  my  experiments,”  Prof.  D.  says,  “all 
sources  of  error  have  been  carefully  avoided. 
The  body  has  always  been  in  the  normal  con¬ 
dition,  during  the  day  employed  in  the  usual 
avocations,  at  night  at  rest  in  bed. 

For  an  adult  man  of  medium  size,  not  engaged 
in  any  special  exercise  or  labor. 

The  quantity  given  by  the  experimenter  is  31.1 
grms.  in  one  hour,  and  has  been  calculated  for 
twenty-four  hours. 

The  expired  matter  consisted  of  exhaled  air, 
551.5  grms.,  and  watery  vapor,  557  grms. 


The  quantity  of  food  taken,  potatoes,  8  oz., 
bread,  12  oz. ;  beef,  16  oz. ;  butter,  1  oz. ;  salt, 
2  drms. ;  water,  32  oz.  Experiments  upon 
himself  for  ten  days ;  age,  27  years  ;  aver¬ 
age  temperature,  84°  Fahr.;  sleep,  8  hours; 
study,  7  hours;  recreation,  6  hours;  eating, 
etc.,  3  hours. 

The  quantity  of  food  same  as  above ;  hours  of 
mental  exercise  doubled  by  taking  three  from 
sleep  and  four  from  recreation.  Average 
temp.,  82°  Fahr.  Continued  ten  days. 

The  quantity  of  food  as  above ;  mental  exer¬ 
cise  as  slight  as  possible  ;  seven  hours  devoted 
to  amusement,  light  reading,  etc.  Average 
temp.,  770  Fahr. ;  continued  ten  days. 

Quality  of  food  altered  by  substituting  thirty-two 
oz.  of  strong  black  tea  for  water.  The  same 
conditions  observed  as  in  first  experiment. 
Mean  temp.,  700  Fahr. ;  continued  ten  days. 

Quality  of  food  altered  by  substituting  thirty- 
two  oz.  of  strong  coffee  for  water.  The  same 
conditions  observed  as  in  first  experiment. 
Mean  temperature,  710  Fahr. ;  continued  ten 
days. 


1  N.  B.  —  All  experiments  have  been  by  calculation  brought  to  a  standard  of  twenty-four  hours,  and  where 
no  specific  weight  has  been  mentioned  the  Troy  pound  has  been  assumed  as  a  basis  of  calculation. 

2 


i8 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


Tables  of  the  Weights  of  the  Excretions  from  the  Human  Body 

giving  the  original  weight , 


Lungs. 

Skin. 

Kidneys. 

Experimenter. 

Weight  as 

given  by  Ex¬ 

perimenter. 

Reduced  to 

grammes  for 

comparison. 

W eight  as 

given  by  Ex¬ 

perimenter. 

Reduced  to 

grammes  for 

comparison. 

Weight  as 

given  by  Ex¬ 

perimenter. 

Reduced  to 

grammes  for 

comparison. 

Hammond,  Wm.  A.  Md.  &  Va.  Med. 
Jour.,  vol.  xv.,  p.  456 

45  to  65  oz. 

30  oz. 

i>399-5  to 
1,430.6 
933*0 

Hartman.  Todd’s  Cyclop.,  vol.  iv.,  pt.  ii., 
P-  843* 

Keil,  James.  Quincy  Medicina  Statica,  p. 
321. 

2  lbs. 

Q7  *1  .O 

6  oz. 

7JJ  ,u 

I  .  T  70 

Krause  &  Valentin.  Flint’s  Phys.,  vol.  iii., 
p.  i37- 

Lecanu.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  655  .. 

Lecanu.  Lehmann’s  Phys.  Chem.,  vol.  iii., 
P-  7* 

30  oz. 

933 

1,268 

522  to  2,271 

1,057.8 

Lehmann.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  655. 

Lavoisier  &  Seguin.  Flint’s  Phys.,  vol.  iii., 
p.  13.9- 

Lavoisier  &  Seguin.  Blumenbach’s  Phys., 
p.  1 14. 

933 

466.5 

i  lb.  4  oz. 

933 

Lavoisier  &  Seguin.  Muller’s  Phys.,  vol.  i., 
.P\  325- 

Lining,  Dr.  John.  Chalmer's  Climate  and 
Dis.  of  So.  Carolina,  vol.  i.,  p.  223. 

8.C74  STS. 

553-07 

1,680.333 

UJJJT  to1 

S4..03  OZ. 

58.29  oz. 

1,812.18+ 

JT  J  V£'* 

Ncubciiisr  Si  Vogel*  On  the  UrinCj  London, 

1.322  8ll 

1843,  P-  355- 

1,600  cc. 

to 

1,511.905 

Parkes  Dr  Flings  Phys  vol  iii  p  188.— 

52J  f.  oz. 

1,488.37+ 

Pettenkofer,  Max,  Dr.  Robins’s  Jour,  del’ 
Anat.  et  del’  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  429. 

Regnault  &  Reisset.  Flint’s  Phys.,  vol.  i., 
pp.  430  to  451. 

600  to  860 
C02. 
960.99 

27  to 

30  OZ. 

839.7  to 
933 

1,244-0 

1,866.0 

Robinson.  Todd’s  Cyclop.,  vol.  iv.,  pt.  ii., 
p.  842. 

Sanctorius  of  Venice.  Quincy,  John,  M.  D. 
Medicina  Statica,  Aphorisms  of  Sancto¬ 
rius  Translated,  1720,  p.  48. 

Sanctorius.  Quincy  Med.  Stat.,  p.  47 ; 
Todd’s  Cyclop.,  vol.  iv.,  pt.  2,  p.  842  . 

40  oz. 

5  lbs. 

16  oz. 

69  oz. 

497.6 

2,I4^.Q 

Oninry  St3t-,  p*  77 . 

3  lbs. 

1,119.6 

SanctonnsT  F)\iipry  TVTedt  Stat-,  pt  45 . 

Jib. 

186.6 

820.608 

Scharling.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  604. 

Seguin,  in  1797.  Longet  Traite  de  Phys., 
vol.  i.,  p.  532. 

627.720 

co2. 

PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  1 9 


in  Twenty-four  Hours ,  as  determined  by  different  Experimenters , 
and  same  reduced  to  grammes.  ( Continued, .) 


Alimentary 

Canal. 

Weight  of 
Body. 

Quantity  of 
Food  Taken. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 

given  by  Ex¬ 

perimenter. 

Reduced  to 

grammes  for 

comparison. 

1,102.11 
c.  c. 

165  lbs.  . 

5  oz. 

155*5 

149 

2,252 

3.91  oz. 

121.601 

116.28 

oz. 

3,616.308 

4  oz. 

124.4 

8  lbs. 

2,985.6 

•  57-75  hil 
=127.33? 
lbs. 

i 

Remarks  descriptive  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  experiments  were  made,  given  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  language  of  the  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 


The  food  consisted  of  animal  and  vegetable  sub¬ 
stances;  experiments  on  healthy  males  be¬ 
tween  twenty-three  and  twenty-five  years. 


Experiments  conducted  in  the  same  manner  as 
those  of  Sanctorius,  condition  of  health,  liv¬ 
ing,  and  temperature  being  normal.  The  dis¬ 
crepancies  between  his  and  Sanctorius’s  ob¬ 
servations,  Dr.  K.  referred  to  the  difference 
in  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  of  Venice 
and  that  of  Northampton,  England. 

Experiment  upon  a  robust  soldier  aged  33  years. 


The  quantity  of  urine  varies  from  743  to  2,271 
grms.  in  twenty-four  hours,  the  quantity  given 
in  the  table  being  the  mean. 

Result  of  observations  upon  sixteen  persons  of 
various  ages  and  sexes,  a  due  quantity  of 
mixed  food  having  been  taken  by  them. 

Experiments  upon  himself,  being  under  normal 
conditions,  the  quantity  varying  from  909  to 
1,202.5  grms.,  while  using  a  diet  of  one  kind. 


Man  put  in  a  silk  bag,  varnished  with  gum 
elastic,  and  opening  only  for  the  mouth,  so 
that  by  weighing  previously  and  subsequently 
he  had  been  able  to  ascertain  what  had  been 
lost  by  vapor,  and  by  subtracting  this  from 
the  perspired  contents  of  the  bag,  he  esti¬ 
mates  the  amount  passed  off  by  the  lungs. 


Excretions  from  lungs  not  estimated,  but  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  included  in  perspiration.  The 
experiment  was  conducted  throughout  the  en¬ 
tire  year,  the  quantity  given  in  the  table  being 
the  mean. 

By  well-nourished  persons  who  drink  freely. 
If  we  calculate  the  mean  quantity  of  the  urine 
by  the  weight  of  the  body,  we  find  that  in  an 
adult  an  average  of  one  cc.  per  hour  is  passed 
for  every  two  pounds  (one  kilogramme)  of  the 
weight  of  the  body. 

With  ordinary  food.  When  undergoing  ali¬ 
mentation  with  succulent  food. 

Carbon  estimated  from  laboring  classes,  quan¬ 
tity  less  in  non-laboring  classes,  organic  mat¬ 
ter,  nitrogen,  and  ammonia  not  estimated. 

During  summer  season. 

During  winter  months. 

This  experiment  was  made  in  order  to  determine 
the  amount  lost  by  excretion  in  one  night. 

Experiment  was  made  in  the  warm  humid  air  of 
Venice.  The  perspiration  as  understood  by 
experimenter  includes  exhalations  from  the 
lungs  and  cutaneous  surface.  He  used  a  bal¬ 
ance  of  his  own  construction,  weighing  before 
and  after  meals  and  evacuations. 

Perspiration  during  sleep. 

Perspiration  by  the  mouth  in  one  day  as  deter¬ 
mined  by  breathing  upon  a  glass. 

Eight  observations  on  a  full-grown  man,  giving 
34.192  grms.  of  C02  per  hour. 

The  quantity  as  given  by  the  experimenter  is 
26.155  grms.  of  C02  in  one  hour. 


20 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


have  not  been  finished  in  most  of  the  States,  and  even  when  finished,  they 
do  not  always  extend  to  the  head  of  the  marsh  region. 

Maine  contains  12  square  miles. 

New  Hampshire  contains  10  square  miles. 

Massachusetts  contains  46  square  miles. 

Rhode  Island  contains  25  square  miles. 

New  York  contains  86  square  miles.  This  is  principally  the  marsh  land 
along  the  southern  coast  of  Long  Island.  Some  fresh  water  swamp  land  in 
the  interior  of  the  States  has  been  reclaimed  by  drainage. 

New  Jersey,  360  square  miles,  comprising  the  marshes  of  the  Hacken¬ 
sack,  the  Delaware,  and  the  sea-coast.  Much  land  in  this  State  has  also 
been  reclaimed. 

Pennsylvania  has  eleven  square  miles,  marshes,  below  Philadelphia. 

Delaware  has  eighty-eight  square  miles.  A  good  deal  of  land  along  the 
Delaware  has  been  reclaimed  by  the  construction  of  dykes. 

The  preceding  figures  give  the  present,  and  not  the  original  extent  of 
marsh  land. 

Maryland,  210  square  miles. 

Virginia,  500  square  miles.  This  includes  the  Dismal  Swamp  region, 
covering  about  190  square  miles. 

North  Carolina,  3,540  square  miles,  of  which  about  3,000  is  to  be  classed 
as  swamp  land. 


Tables  of  the  Weights  of  the  Excretions  from  the  Human  Body 

giving  the  original  weight , 


Experimenters. 

Lungs. 

Skin. 

Kidneys. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 
given  by.  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Smith,  Dr.  Edward.  Philos.  Trans.,  1857, 
p.  681. 

Todd  &  Bowman.  Todd  &  Bowman’s 
Phys,  p.159. 

Valentin.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  vol.  i . . 

26.193  oz. 

co2. 

,  814.60-)- 

1,125.621 

1,041.8 

1,387.8 

W3-5 

h  I47-2 

Valentin,  G.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  p.  727,  xst  day 
2d  day 
3d  day 

Valentin,  G.  Valentin’s  Phys.,  p.  730. .... 

Valentin,  G.  Flint’s  Phys.,  vol.  i.,  p.  430- 
45 1 

Vierodt,  Karl.  Vierodt’s  Phys.,  p.  216.... 
Way,  Prof.  Med.  and  Surg.  Rep.,  vol.  iv., 
p.  278. 

Wehrsarg.  Flint’s  Phys.,  vol.  n.,  p.  395 ••  •  • 

30.9  oz. 

960.99 

1,229.9 

669.8 

933-o 

1,766.0 

1,492.8 

2\  lbs. 

3  lbs. 

Wundt,  Wilhelm.  Wundt’s  Phys.,  p.  373.. 

Average . . . 

500 

1,074.811-1- 

787.178-f- 

1,298.76-)- 

PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


21 


South  Carolina,  2,400  square  miles.  This  includes  2,000  miles  of  swamp 
land,  mostly  under  cultivation  as  rice  land. 

Georgia,  1,375  square  miles,  of  which  425  miles  consists  of  salt  marsh. 

Florida,  18,422  *  square  miles.1 

Alabama,  750*  square  miles. 

Louisiana,  1 7,718  *  square  miles. 

Mississippi,  4,798*  square  miles. 

Texas,  8,800  square  miles,  including  about  400  miles  of  salt  marsh.  This 
last  figure  is  but  a  rough  estimate,  because  no  surveys  for  about  two  thirds 
of  the  coast  have  been  made.  The  total  area  embraced  within  this  esti¬ 
mate,  but  which  does  not  claim  to  be  accurate,  is  59,156  square  miles,  or 
37,859,840  acres. 

While  the  actual  amount  of  swamp  lands  thus  stated  is  great,  it  does  not 
include  immense  bodies  existing  in  the  interior  of  our  country,  where  the 
swamps  do  not  communicate  with  the  tide.  I  am  informed  by  the  honora¬ 
ble  Commissioner  of  the  United  States  Land  Office,  S.  S.  Burdette,  Esq.,  that 
the  whole  amount  of  swamps  and  overflowed  lands  that  have  been  certified 
to  the  several  States,  under  acts  of  Congress  since  the  passage  of  the  law 
in  1850  to  July  1,  1875,  is  64,011,786  acres.2 

1  The  star  indicates  that  these  estimates  are  from  the  Land  Office. 

2  With  a  view  to  ascertain  the  quantity  of  swamp  land  that  has  been  surveyed  and  certi¬ 
fied  by  the  United  States,  I  addressed  a  note  to  the  Hon.  S.  S.  Burdette,  Commissioner  of 
the  Land  Office,  requesting  such  information  as  he  could  furnish  upon  the  subject.  From 


in  Twenty-four  Hours,  as  determined  by  different  Experimenters , 
and  same  reduced  to  grammes.  ( Continued .) 


Alimentary 

Canal. 

Weight  of 
Body. 

Quantity  of 
Food  Taken. 

Remarks  descriptive  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  experiments  were  made,  given  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  language  of  the  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Weight  as 
given  by  Ex¬ 
perimenter. 

Reduced  to 
grammes  for 
comparison. 

Experiment  conducted  eighteen  hours,  the  re¬ 
maining  six  hours  calculated  for.  Deductions 
made  from  eight  sets  of  inquiries  in  four  adult 
males  in  a  state  of  rest. 

Experiment  upon  a  healthy  man. 

Experiment  continued  fourteen  days,  using  a 
mixed  diet. 

Experiments  upon  himself,  using  Glardon’s 
scale,  weighing  in  a  state  of  nudity  fifteen 
times  a  day,  taking  into  consideration  that  we 
lose  one  half  gramme  of  perspiration  per  min¬ 
ute.  The  urine  was  measured  by  its  volume 
and  specific  gravity. 

Average  quantity  of  food  taken  per  hour  being 
121.80  grammes. 

Organic  matter,  nitrogen,  and  ammonia  not 
estimated. 

This  experiment  was  made  upon  a  well-fed  man. 

The  man  was  put  in  a  vapor  bath  in  a  metallic 
vessel,  and  again  a  certain  part  of  the  body 
was  placed  in  an  air-tight  bag,  and  the  per¬ 
spiration  thus  collected. 

5  to  6oz. 

155-5  to 
186.6 

Assum’g 
35  oz. 

1,088.5 

214.5 
153 
204.7 

189.6 

3, *99-9 
2,778.7 
2,794-3 

2,923.20 

172.0 

124.4 

143-06 

4  oz. 

4.6  oz. 

151.48+ 

2,590.758+ 

22 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


Wet  lands  and  saturated  soils  are  not  only  unremunerative,  but  if  the  area 
is  considerable,  they  prove  a  source  of  enervation  and  disease  to  the  section 
in  which  they  exist.  Although  individuals  may  neglect  swamp  lands,  or  find 
their  reclamation  and  drainage  too  expensive,  the  State  cannot  afford  to  be 
indifferent  to  their  continuance,  because  they  check  production,  limit  popu¬ 
lation,  and  reduce  the  standard  of  vigor  and  health.  Their  value,  too,  when 
reclaimed,  in  an  economic  view  will  be  greatly  enhanced. 

It  is  well  known  to  physicians,  and  it  ought  to  be  appreciated  by  states¬ 
men,  that  conditions  of  insalubrity  which  enfeeble  the  vitality  of  a  people  are 
much  more  to  be  dreaded  by  a  nation  than  even  wars  or  great  epidemics. 
A  region  or  country  noted  for  unhealthfulness,  will  increase  neither  in  wealth 
nor  in  population.  The  elements  which  constitute  the  greatness  of  a  nation 
are  physical  vigor,  health,  and  enterprise  in  its  population.  To  have  these, 
the  rulers  must  secure  good  sanitary  conditions.  While  prosecuting  inquiries 
as  to  the  swamp  lands  of  our  country,  and  desiring  to  ascertain  what  efforts 
are  being  made  for  their  reclamation  by  the  several  States,  I  have  been 
permitted  to  examine  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  between  the  Hon. 
Fred.  Watts,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  and  the  governors  of  the  differ- 

a  lack  of  statistical  data,  the  extent  of  actual  swamps  existing  in  the  different  States  is  not 
known,  nor  can  it  be  learned  what  amount  of  such  lands  has  been  reclaimed.  Yet  as  his 
communication  furnishes  the  best  information  available  I  give  it  in  full. 

Department  of  the  Interior,  General  Land  Office. 

J.  M.  Toner,  M.  D.  :  — 

Sir :  In  reply  to  that  portion  of  your  letter  of  the  18th  instant  requesting  to  be  fur¬ 
nished  with  the  amount  of  swamp  lands  in  the  different  States,  I  have  to  inform  you  that 
the  following  statement  will  show  the  quantity  of  land  selected  as  swamp  and  over¬ 
flowed  for  the  several  states  entitled  thereto,  from  the  date  of  the  swamp  grant,  Septem¬ 
ber  28,  1850,  to  July  1,  1875. 


Ohio . 54438. 14  acres. 

Indiana . I)354>732-5°  acres. 

Illinois . 3,267,470.65  acres. 

Missouri . 4,604,448.75  acres. 

Alabama . 479,514.44  acres. 

Mississippi . 3,070,645.29  acres. 

Louisiana . 1  i>339)546-83  acres. 

Michigan  . . 7,273,724.72  acres. 

Arkansas .  8,652,432.93  acres. 

Florida . 12,690,415.23  acres. 

Wisconsin .  4,200,669.58  acres. 

Iowa . 3,449,720.18  acres. 

California . 1)653,936.74  acres. 

Minnesota . •  1,914,311.81  acres. 

64,006,007.79  acres. 


In  Oregon  only  a  few  tracts  have  been  officially  reported  as  swamp  land,  but  from  cor¬ 
respondence  with  the  State  authorities,  I  have  no  doubt  that  at  least  500,000  acres,  proba¬ 
bly  more,  will  be  claimed  in  that  State  as  swamp. 

I  would  state  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  furnish  you  with  the  amount  of  swamp  lands 
in  those  States  in  which  the  United  States  government  had  no  control  of  the  lands.  This 
includes  the  original  thirteen  States,  also  Vermont,  Maine,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and 
Texas,  and  there  are  no  records  in  this  office  in  regard  to  the  lands  in  those  States.  The 
grant  has  not  been  extended  to  Kansas,  Nebraska,  or  Nevada,  and  does  not  extend  to  the 
Territories. —  S.  S.  Burdett. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  23 

ent  States.  This  correspondence  was  commenced  by  the  Commissioner  at 
my  request,  and  although  some  have  not  yet  replied,  excerpts  of  data,  as 
far  as  received,  will  be  found  in  a  note.1 

Two  tunnels,  one  of  them  four  miles  long,  the  other  somewhat  shorter, 
cut  through  the  solid  limestone  rocks,  were  made  as  early  probably  as  the 

1  Arizona  Territory.  —  No  survey  of  the  swamp  and  overflowed  lands  of  this  Territory 
has  been  made.  The  quantity  of  such  lands  is  not  known,  but  it  is  certain  that  there  are 
no  large  swamps.  The  water-soaked  lands  are  in  the  valleys  along  or  adjacent  to  streams. 
A  few  such  tracts  have  been  reclaimed  by  ditching,  and  removing  obstacles  to  the  flow  of 
water ;  and  such  lands  prove  very  productive,  “  as  they  require  but  little  or  no  irrigation.” 
Swamp  lands  are  considered  very  prejudicial  to  health,  because  they  are  believed  to  cause 
chills  and  fever  in  the  fall.  Draining  and  cultivation  render  these  sections  entirely  salu¬ 
brious.  There  has  been  no  legislation  on  the  subject  of  drainage. — A.  K.  S afford, 
Governor. 

Arkansas.  —  There  has  been  no  survey  by  the  State  of  the  swamp,  overflowed  or  boggy 
lands  ;  and  the  only  means  of  approximating  the  quantity  of  swamp  lands  is  to  accept  the 
survey  of  the  General  Land  Office.  It  is  estimated,  however,  that,  originally,  one  third  of 
the  whole  of  the  State  was  liable  to  overflow,  and  was  actually  water-soaked ;  but  there  is 
comparatively  little  that  is  deserving  of  the  title  of  boggy.  The  system  of  reclaiming 
lands  by  levees  and  drainage  was  well  under  way,  and  much  had  been  reclaimed  to  agricul¬ 
ture,  when  the  war  between  the  States  began.  Since  then  but  little  has  been  done,  and 
many  of  the  old  levees  and  drains  have  been  neglected.  The  conviction  is  general  that 
drainage  makes  the  region  more  salubrious,  while  it  also  enhances  the  value  of  the  lands. 
All  the  reclaimed  lands  are  very  productive.  Before  the  war,  the  State  had  adopted  a 
method  of  encouraging  the  draining  and  reclaiming  of  wet  lands  by  giving  the  title  to  the 
person  who  would  actually  drain  and  cultivate  it.  Perhaps  one  tenth  of  the  wet  and  over¬ 
flowed  lands  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  has  been  reclaimed,  and  thus  remains  the  most  produc¬ 
tive  land  to  be  found  within  her  territory,  and  produces  all  the  crops  cultivated  in  the  South. 
Even  that  portion  which  might  be  boggy  is  capable  of  being  cultivated  for  rice.  When 
this  grain  is  cultivated  in  Arkansas,  it  proves  to  be  of  very  fine  quality,  and  is  remunerative 
to  the  producer.  The  reclamation  of  the  wet  lands  throughout  the  State,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  the  deeply  overflowed  section  near  the  mouths  of  the  White  and  Arkansas  rivers 
is  quite  practicable,  and  will  be  of  moderate  cost.  The  reclamation  of  the  latter  localities 
will  require  stupendous  levees ;  yet  such  can  be  built,  and  will  completely  effect  their  pur¬ 
pose.  These  lands  would  then  sell  at  once  for  from  twenty  to  fifty  dollars  per  acre,  which 
now  are  not  only  entirely  valueless,  but  prevent  occupation  of  the  good  lands  in  the  vicinity. 
There  is  a  growing  desire  to  have  the  wet  lands  of  the  State  reclaimed,  but  private  enter¬ 
prise  is  not  equal  to  the  task.  In  1851,  the  State  passed  a  law  giving  lands  in  payment  to 
persons  who  would  reclaim  them.  But  at  present  the  lands  are  not  in  demand  on  even 
these  terms. —  D.  W.  Lear,  Department  of  State  Land  Office. 

California.  —  Although  citizens  of  the  State  have  in  some  respects  taken  the  lead  in 
systematic  and  extensive  measures  for  the  reclamation  of  her  swamp  land,  yet  she  has 
made  no  comprehensive  survey  of  the  lands  of  this  character.  The  whole  extent  of  the 
swamp  lands  is  estimated  by  the  grants  from  the  United  States,  and  is  given  in  another 
part  of  this  paper.  Some  considerable  areas  of  lands  have  been  reclaimed.  The  soil  here 
is  so  porous,  and  of  such  slight  tenacity,  that  the  banks  of  the  streams  do  not  stand  currents 
or  floods,  and  often  give  way.  Says  E.  W.  Maslin,  Secretary  to  the  Governor,  these 
reclaimed  lands  are  wonderfully  rich  and  productive,  —  almost  beyond  belief.  The  popu¬ 
lation,  except  in  a  few  localities,  is  not  dense  enough  to  suffer  from  these  swamps,  yet  they 
no  doubt  lower  the  standard  of  health.  The  public  press  speaks  encouragingly  of  the 
progress  made  in  the  reclamation  of  swamp  and  “  Tide  lands  ”  in  this  State,  but  I  have  not 
the  exact  data  from  which  to  give  results,  but  they  exceed  2,000,000  acres. 

Connecticut.  —  Bordering  the  small  streams  that  enter  the  Sound  are  a  few  salt  marshes 
of  one  or  two  miles  in  extent,  and  in  almost  all  towns  there  are  what  are  denominated 
“bog  swamps,”  “  alder  swamp,”  “black-ash  swamp,”  “tamarack  swamp,”  or  “peat  beds.” 
These  occur  wherever  there  is  a  depression  in  uplands  from  which  there  is  no  drainage,  or 


24 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


period  of  the  Trojan  war,  to  drain  the  lake  Copais  in  Boeotia  for  economic 
and  hygienic  purposes.  They  existed  and  were  repaired  in  the  time  of  Al- 

where  a  sluggish  stream  has  been  obstructed  from  any  cause ;  but  few  of  these  are  a  mile 
in  extent,  and  are  included  within  adjoining  farms.  No  survey  of  this  class  of  lands  has 
been  made  by  the  State,  but  it  is  estimated  that  one  half  of  them  have  been  wholly  or  in 
part  reclaimed  by  drainage  or  by  filling  them  up  from  the  hills.  Some  of  these  recovered 
lands  are  very  rich  and  productive  where  they  are  composed  of  earth,  decayed  vegetable 
matter,  or  the  soil  washed  from  the  uplands.  The  swamps  are  so  limited  in  extent  as  to 
but  slightly  affect  health,  although  they  are  recognized  as  being  prejudicial.  Farmers  on 
their  own  account  are  gradually  recovering  this  class  of  lands  for  meadows,  pasture,  or 
tillage.  A  general  law  on  the  subject  of  reclaiming  swamp  lands  in  Connecticut  gives  a 
right  to  drain  across  adjoining  property  if  necessary.  —  T.  S  Gold,  for  the  Governor. 

Florida.  —  The  quantity  of  swamp  and  boggy  lands  of  this  State  can  only  be  approxi¬ 
mated,  as  no  special  survey  has  been  made.  The  U.  S.  Land  Office  Surveys  show  about 
4,000,000  acres.  From  a  letter  of  M.  A.  Williams,  an  experienced  surveyor  in  this  State, 
to  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  I  obtain  the  following  facts  :  — 

The  swamp  lands  are  distributed  over  almost  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  largest  body 
is  the  “  Everglades,”  and  the  adjacent  submerged  savannas,  containing  possibly  one  half  of 
the  quantity  estimated.  The  next  largest  areas  are  the  prairies  and  swamp  lands  lying  on 
either  side  of  the  Kissimmee  River,  and  lands  of  like  character  lying  at  the  head  waters  of 
the  St.  John’s  River.  The  San  Pedro  swamp,  in  Madison  and  Taylor  counties,  has  about 
35,000  acres.  Swamps  of  smaller  extent  exist  in  almost  every  county  of  the  State,  aggre¬ 
gating  a  large  amount.  Almost  all  the  rivers  and  water-courses  are  fringed  with  what  are 
denominated  “  river  swamp.” 

In  addition  to  these  are  the  salt  marshes,  an  estimate  of  which  has  been  given  in  the  text. 
No  effort  has  been  made  by  the  State  to  reclaim  these  swamp  lands,  but  the  Trustees  of  the 
Internal  Improvement  Fund  have  made  some  effort  in  this  direction,  but  without  any  de¬ 
cided  success.  It  will  require  good  engineers,  and  a  comprehensive  system  to  be  devised, 
to  secure  satisfactory  results. 

A  few  small  tracts  have  been  reclaimed  by  private  enterprise,  and  the  land  found  to  be 
very  productive.  The  sugar  cane  is  found  to  be  the  most  profitable  crop  for  this  kind  of 
land.  When  such  lands  lie  far  enough  south,  they  produce  the  banana,  and  other  tropical 
fruits. 

The  “  Everglades  ”  cover  a  larger  portion  of  the  southern  part  of  the  peninsula,  and  em¬ 
brace  within  their  limits  if  they  can  be  reclaimed,  the  richest  land  in  the  State.  It  may  be 
proper  to  state  that  their  reclamation  is  deemed  possible,  because  they  lie  in  a  basin  with  a 
rocky  rim,  and  are  constantly  above  the  sea  level,  as  is  proven  by  the  rapid  currents  in  the 
streams  that  flow  from  the  whole  area. 

The  popular  belief  in  Florida  is  that  the  swamp,  and  boggy  and  water-soaked  lands 
are  prejudicial  to  health,  but  the  salt  marshes  are  not  so  included.  I  suspect  that  the  lat¬ 
ter  should  not  be  excluded  The  evidence  is  abundant  that  the  salubrity  of  the  whole 
State  has  greatly  improved  under  the  improved  modes  of  cultivating  the  soil,  the  opening 
of  drains,  and  the  removing  of  obstructions  to  the  water-courses  and  streams.  Vast  quan¬ 
tities  of  the  lands  are  undoubtedly  reclaimable,  and  it  is  thought  would  thereby  greatly 
serve  the  interest  of  the  public  health,  and  thus  deserve  the  attention  and  aid  of  the  State. 

—  A.  M.  Williams  and  Dr.  Egan,  Commissioners  of  Lands. 

Dakota  Territory.  —  There  has  been  no  complete  survey  of  the  lands  of  this  territory, 
nor  has  there  been  any  survey  of  the  swamp  lands.  Some  limited  marsh  basins  exist  in 
the  unsettled  parts  of  the  territory,  and  along  the  Missouri  River.  It  is  claimed  that  mi¬ 
asmatic  fevers  do  not  exist  here.  Ditching,  to  protect  the  bottom  lands  along  the  Missouri, 
has  been  practiced  to  a  limited  extent  by  the  owners  residing  there,  and  with  good  results. 

—  A.  W.  Barber,  for  the  Governor. 

Georgia.  —  It  may  be  stated  in  a  general  way  that  there  is  a  large  extent  of  swamp, 
water-soaked,  and  overflowed  lands  in  Georgia,  equal  in  extent  probably  to  the  area  of  the 
kingdom  of  Holland.  These  lands  lie  chiefly  along  the  course  of  the  following  rivers,  to 
wit  :  the  Ocmulgee,  the  Altamaha,  the  Savannah,  Ogeechee,  Oconee,  and  also  along  the 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2 5 


exander  the  Great,  in  the  fourth  century  b.  c.  A  tunnel  of  one  mile  in 
length,  made  through  rock  for  the  drainage  of  Lake  Albano,  fourteen  miles 

Flint.  These  lands  have  at  present  little,  if  any,  market  value  ;  and  yet,  if  they  could  be 
reclaimed,  would  be  the  most  valuable  in  the  State.  The  influence  of  the  swamp  lands 
upon  the  health  of  the  adjacent  districts  is  decidedly  unfavorable.  It  is  possible  that  in 
the  future  a  system  of  levees  may  reclaim  much  of  this  rich  and  productive  land  to  produc¬ 
tion  and  agriculture,  influencing  the  salubrity,  and. increasing  the  wealth  of  the  State.  —  P. 
W.  Alexander,  Secretary  to  Executive  Department. 

Idaho  Territory.  —  This  territory  has  no  swamp  lands,  except  a  few  hundred  acres 
around  Bear  Lake,  in  Bear  Lake  County.  This  region  is  all  high  table  land,  which  re¬ 
quires  irrigation  to  produce  crops.  —  J.  Curtis,  Secretary  of  Territory. 

Indiana.  —  This  State  has  made  no  special  survey  of  the  swamp,  water-soaked,  and 
boggy  lands.  The  United  States,  under  the  Swamp  Land  Grant,  gave  Indiana  1,256,288 
acres.  These  lands  lie  along  the  Kankakee,  the  Calumet,  and  the  Wabash  rivers  ;  scatter¬ 
ing  tracts  exist  from  west  of  the  centre  to  the  boundary  of  the  State.  It  is  estimated  that 
a  large  part  of  the  swamp  lands  have  been  either  partially  or  completely  reclaimed  by 
straightening  channels,  confining  streams,  and  drainage.  The  lands  of  the  Calumet,  a 
large  amount  of  the  northern  part  of  the  Kankakee,  and  most  of  the  scattering  tracts, 
have  been  drained,  and  are  under  successful  cultivation.  The  soil  is  very  productive,  ex¬ 
cept  in  wet  seasons  when  the  drainage  is  insufficient ;  malarial  fevers  prevail  in  the  region 
of  these  swamps,  but  decrease  as  they  are  drained  and  the  lands  cultivated.  The  lands 
themselves,  as  well  as  the  surrounding  tracts,  are  greatly  enhanced  in  value,  perhaps  to  the 
extent  of  one  hundred  per  cent.,  or  even  more.  Intelligent  farmers,  and  many  capitalists, 
are  turning  their  attention  to  the  reclamation  of  swamp  lands,  when  they  lie  on  public  high¬ 
ways.  Large  owners  of  lands  pay  but  little  attention  to  drainage.  But  the  subject  is  be¬ 
ginning  to  attract  attention  from  an  economic  and  sanitary  point  of  view,  and  measures  are 
from  time  to  time  introduced  into  the  Legislature  looking  to  a  more  complete  and  perfect 
drainage  of  the  swamp  and  water-soaked  lands  of  the  State,  to  secure  more  profitable 
crops,  and  a  higher  standard  of  public  health.  —  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Governor. 

Iowa.  —  The  extent  of  swamp,  water-soaked,  boggy,  and  overflowed  land  of  this  State  is 
not  accurately  known.  The  amounts  received  by  patents  from  the  United  States  Land  Of¬ 
fice  now  aggregate  perhaps  1,200,000  acres.  There  are  but  few  specially  swampy  localities 
in  the  State,  except  those  along  the  rivers.  But  so  far,  no  surveys  of  this  class  of  lands 
have  been  made.  Much  of  the  river  swamp  lands  adjacent  to  cultivated  soil,  have  been  re¬ 
claimed  by  private  enterprise.  These  reclaimed  lands  have  been  found  among  the  most 
productive  in  the  State,  and  agriculturalists  expect  similar  results  of  lands  yet  to  be  re¬ 
claimed.  When  water-soaked  and  swampy  lands,  and  sloughs,  lie  near  cities  and  large  towns, 
they  are  deemed  prejudicial  to  health,  although  no  complaints  have  yet  come  from  the  rural 
districts.  Acts  of  the  legislature  invest  the  different  counties  with  power  to  drain  lands, 
at  the  request  of  proprietors  of  such  lands,  giving  also  the  right  to  cross  other  lands  to  effect 
the  purpose.  Much  land  has  been  successfully  reclaimed  in  Muscatine  and  Louisa  counties, 
and  there  is  no  question  among  the  farmers  as  to  the  practical  success  of  systematic  efforts 
at  reclaiming  nearly  all  the  lands  of  the  State  to  productive  agriculture  and  that  it  will  at 
the  same  time  promote  the  public  health.  —  W.  H.  Henning,  Private  Secretary  to  Gov¬ 
ernor. 

Kansas.  —  There  are  but  few  swamps  in  this  State.  There  are,  however,  some  lakes  of 
from  one  to  two  hundred  acres  in  extent,  usually  with  well-defined  bounds  on  one  or  two 
sides.  The  water  is  usually  filled  with  fish.  The  shallow  parts  of  these  lakes  are  filled  with 
vegetation  :  notable  everywhere  is  the  water-lily.  A  number  of  these  lakes  are  found  in 
tfie  bottoms  along  the  Missouri  and  Kansas  Rivers.  The  overflows  which  were  occasional 
in  the  early  settlement  of  the  State,  have  nearly  ceased  since  the  lands  have  been  cultivated. 
The  soil  under  tillage  retains  the  moisture  longer,  and  yields  it  more  gradually,  thus  pre¬ 
venting  overflows,  and  enlarged  water-soaked  areas.  There  has  been  no  survey  of  this 
class  of  lands,  though  they  are  known  to  be  of  limited  extent.  Malarial  diseases  exist,  but 
it  is  believed  cultivation  of  the  lands  renders  the  attacks  of  such  diseases  less  frequent  and 
severe.  When  the  wet  or  swampy  lands  have  been  drained  and  rendered  arable,  they  have 
proven  to  be  very  productive.  —  Alfred  Gray,  for  the  Governor. 


2  6 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


from  Rome,  was  constructed  in  the  year  397  before  the  Christian  era,  and  is 
still  in  good  condition.  A  remarkable  work  of  this  kind  was  partly  com- 

Kentucky.  —  The  extent  of  swamp  lands  in  this  State  is  limited,  the  main  body  being  in 
Hickman  and  Fulton  counties,  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  River  in  the  southwest  part 
of  the  State.  This  is  the  section  known  as  the  “Jackson  purchase,”  and  lies  west  of  the 
Tennessee  River  and  is  the  only  portion  of  the  State  surveyed  by  the  United  States  gov¬ 
ernment.  These  lands  are  subject  to  overflow  from  the  Mississippi  River,  and  are  com¬ 
prised  within  a  limited  area.  The  State  has  not  inaugurated  any  system  of  drainage  or  re¬ 
demption  of  land  from  swamp.  Many  levees  have  been  constructed  by  private  enterprise, 
and  some  by  joint-stock  companies  under  State  charters.  The  latter  measure  is  of  recent 
date,  but  promises  good  results,  both  in  the  land  reclaimed  and  in  its  enhanced  value.  The 
other  body  of  swamp  land,  embracing  some  1.5,000  acres,  is  in  Jefferson  County,  about  ten 
miles  south  of  Louisville.  A  joint-stock  company  is  ditching  and  draining  these  lands, 
and  already  much  has  been  reclaimed,  and  found  to  be  very  productive.  There  is  an  evi¬ 
dent  improvement  in  the  salubrity  of  the  region,  —  malarial  diseases  being  less  frequent, 
and  less  severe.  —  J.  S.  Johnston. 

Louisiana.  —  There  has  been  no  special  survey  of  the  swamp  lands  of  this  State,  but 
there  are  known  to  be  more  than  3,000,000  acres.  I  should  judge  from  an  examination  of 
S.  H.  Lockett’s  Topographical  Map  of  the  State,  published  in  1872,  that  quite  one-tenth 
of  the  area  of  the  State  is  subject  to  overflow.  The  system  of  levees  inaugurated  at  an 
early  period,  was  before  the  war  measurably  successful  as  a  defense  from  the  annual  floods 
of  the  Mississippi,  but  no  adequate  or  systematic  method  of  reclaiming  the  swamp  lands  of 
Louisiana  has  been  adopted.  There  is  no  State  in  the  Union  where  the  swamp  lands  are 
naturally  so  productive,  and  which  would  repay  better  for  draining  than  those  of  this  State. 
The  levee  system  is  perhaps  the  only  one  that  gives  any  promise  of  their  reclamation,  and 
if  this  is  ever  accomplished  it  must  be  by  the  General  Government.  The  many  reports  to 
Congress,  and  to  the  different  States  bordering  on  the  Mississippi,  point  to  this.  These 
lands  are  all  fertile  and  capable  of  producing  when  drained,  any  of  the  crops  grown  in  the 
Southern  States.  A  large  quantity  of  the  sea  marsh  land,  too,  is  capable  of  reclamation  for 
rice  culture,  and  small  areas  are  now  under  cultivation.  The  salubrity  is  unquestionably 
improved  by  draining,  and  the  value  of  lands  thereby  greatly  enhanced.  —  John  Ray, 
Registrar. 

Maryland.  —  The  area  of  swamp  lands  in  this  State  is  about  100,000  acres  of  water- 
soaked,  swamp,  and  boggy  lands,  lying  chiefly  along  the  Elk,  Choptank,  Nanticoke,  Poco- 
moke,  Patuxent,  and  Potomac,  and  about  the  mouth  of  the  small  streams  entering  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  and  Potomac  River.  To  these  may  be  added  the  tide-water  marshes. 
Perhaps  the  largest  area  of  marsh  land  is  in  Dorchester  County  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  No 
survey  of  the  marsh  and  swamp  lands  has  been  made  by  the  State.  It  is  estimated  that 
about  1,000  acres  of  this  class  of  lands  have  been  recovered  by  drainage,  but  owing  to  the 
insufficient  methods  adopted,  the  experiment  has  not  proved  remunerative.  The  tide-water 
has  been  shut  out  by  embankments  in  which  are  gates  through  which  the  drainage  of  the 
ditches  is  discharged  at  low  tide,  but  as  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  is  only  from  twenty  to 
thirty  inches,  the  fall  is  not  sufficient  to  effectually  drain  the  low  lands.  The  swamps 
above  tide  are  effectually  drained  by  ditching,  and  such  lands  are  found  to  be  very  produc¬ 
tive.  In  the  summer,  the  swamp  lands  are  believed  to  cause  malarial  diseases.  The  ef¬ 
forts  at  redemption  have  been  so  limited  that  it  is  difficult  to  state  the  influence  exerted 
on  the  value  of  lands  in  the  vicinity,  but  it  is  believed  that  it  has  enhanced  their  value,  and 
rendered  them  more  salubrious.  The  subject  of  draining  has  not  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  people  to  any  considerable  extent.  There  has  been  no  report  from  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  on  the  influence  these  swamp  lands  have  upon  health,  but  physicians  generally  es¬ 
teem  them  to  be  the  cause  of  malarial  fevers.  Where  the  swamp  lands  of  Maryland  have 
been  reclaimed,  they  have  been  found  very  favorable  for  the  production  of  corn,  vegetables, 
and  grass.  —  R.  C.  Holliday,  Secretary  of  State  ( for  the  Governor). 

Michigan.  —  The  quantity  of  swamp,  boggy,  and  overflowed  lands  is  not  definitely 
known,  as  no  survey  of  them  has  been  made  by  the  State.  They  are  scattered  throughout 
the  State,  and  are  estimated  at  about  8,570  square  miles,  of  which  about  500  have  been  re- 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2J 


pleted  by  the  Emperor  Claudius  to  drain  Lake  Fucinus,  nowLago  di  Celano, 
about  fifty  miles  east  of  Rome.  This  lake  is  2,200  feet  above  tide,  and  its 

claimed,  and  about  800  more  partially  reclaimed  to  agriculture.  It  is  believed  that  nearly 
all  the  swamp  and  wet  lands  of  the  State  are  susceptible  of  drainage.  The  usual  method 
has  been  straightening  streams,  removing  obstacles,  deepening  channels,  digging  large 
drains  as  main  conduits,  with  lateral  drains  of  smaller  size,  underdraining,  etc.  Such  lands, 
when  thoroughly  drained,  are  quite  productive,  and  much  enhanced  in  value ;  and  when 
adjoining  cultivated  farms,  private  enterprise  reduces  them  to  an  arable  state.  There  is 
still  much  unoccupied  upland  of  fine  quality  in  market  at  a  moderate  price,  so  that  swamp 
lands  are  not  sought  after  as  an  investment.  As  early  as  1857  the  State  passed  “  an  Act  for 
the  draining  of  swamps,  marshes,  and  other  low  lands.”  This  law  was  amended  in  1869, 
and  further  amended  in  1871,  so  that  now  every  county  is  empowered  to  drain  its  lands, 
and,  for  the  expense,  to  levy  an  equable  tax  on  the  property  benefited.  Dr.  Kidze  esti¬ 
mates  that  there  was  only  one  acre  of  wet  or  swampy  land  to  nine  of  dry  land.  The  legis¬ 
lation  upon  swamp  lands  has  been  based  on  the  theory  that  draining  of  the  wet  lands 
would  promote  health,  and  experience  serves  to  corroborate  this  view.  The  State  Medi¬ 
cal  Association,  and  the  State  Board  of  Health,  are  each  investigating  the  influence  of 
swampy  and  wet  lands  upon  health  and  mortality.  The  judgment  of  the  people,  and  of 
the  rural  practitioners,  is,  that  they  cause  malarial  fevers,  and  their  reclamation  lessens  the 
percentage  of  such  diseases  about  seventy-five  per  cent.,  though  they  do  not  prevent  set¬ 
tlers  from  occupying  them  as  the  better  lands  become  cultivated.  It  is  estimated  that  in 
the  last  ten  years  over  20,000  miles  of  ditching  have  been  dug  in  the  State,  and  that  no  law 
of  the  State  has  been  more  promotive  of  the  general  prosperity  of  the  people  than  the 
drainage  laws.  —  S.  A.  Clapp,  Census  of  Land  Office  ;  and  H.  B.  Baker,  M.  D.,  Super¬ 
intendent  State  Board  of  Health . 

Minnesota. — There  has  been  no  survey  of  the  swamp  and  water-soaked  lands  of  this 
State,  and  therefore  the  amount  is  undetermined.  In  the  extreme  northern  central  portions 
which  have  not  been  surveyed  by  the  United  States  Land  Office,  explorers  say  there  are 
large  areas  of  uncultivable  grass  swamps,  through  which  at  present  horses  cannot  pass. 
The  State  is  the  recipient  of  the  General  Government  bounty  of  the  Swamp  Land  Grant, 
and  has  received  patents  for  1,142,453  acres.  This  amount  does  not  comprise  all  the 
swamp  area  that  the  State  is  entitled  to  under  the  grant.  From  the  fact  that  there  are 
immense  areas  of  fine  arable  lands  unoccupied,  and  to  be  obtained  at  very  moderate  prices, 
no  special  efforts,  except  in  particular  cases,  have  been  made  to  reclaim  swamp  lands. 
The  reclamation  of  swamp  lands  undoubtedly  improves  their  salubrity,  and  enhances  their 
value.  General  acts,  looking  to  the  recovery  of  this  class  of  lands,  were  passed  by  the 
Legislature,  March,  1873,  ar>d  further  enactments  in  1875.  —  W.  P.  Jewett,  Land  Office. 

Mississippi.  —  “  There  are  large  tracts  of  land  that  are  swampy,  or  subject  to  overflow  — 
millions  of  acres,  I  presume  —  no  exact  data  obtainable.” — James  Hill,  Secretary  of 
State. 

Missouri.  —  It  is  impossible  at  present  to  give  the  exact  quantity  of  swamp  and  water- 
soaked  or  boggy  lands  in  this  State,  because  they  are  scattered  over  nearly  all  parts,  and  are 
in  small  areas,  disconnected,  from  twenty  to  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  acres.  In  other 
places  there  are  connected  swamps  covering  many  thousand  acres.  The  largest  bodies  of 
these  are  in  southern  Missouri.  In  northwestern  Missouri  are  found  some  of  the  most 
noted  connected  swamps.  Lake  Torkia,  containing  about  3,150  acres,  is  in  Township  60 
N.  of  base  line.  The  most  prominent  swamps  in  southeastern  Missouri  are  those  known 
as  the  “  Overflow  of  Little  River,”  covering  somewhere  about  60,000  acres.  “  Eastward 
Lake,”  “  Lake  St.  John,”  “  Ten-mile  and  Four-mile  Ponds,”  “  The  overflow  of  the  Chilli- 
taceaux,”  “Lake  Nic  Coony,”  “Negro  Wool  Swamp,”  “Big  Lake,”  “Cooper  Lake,” 
“Big  Water  Lake,”  and  others.  Parts  of  these  swamps,  to  the  extent  of  perhaps  75,000 
acres,  are  being  surveyed,  but  the  work  can  only  be  prosecuted  in  the  dry  season,  or  in  the 
winter.  Many  small  areas  of  swamp  have  been  reclaimed  by  drainage  through  indi vidua.’ 
enterprise.  The  most  noted  of  these  was  Marais  Tenio  Clair,  in  Township  48.  This  tract, 
comprising  10,000  acres,  was  totally  covered  with  water.  A  drain  was  cut  in  the  winter 
and  spring,  and  a  good  crop  of  90m  raised  the  following  summer  of  eighty  bushels  to  the 


28 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


occasional  overflow  created  pestilential  exhalations,  and  caused  epidemic 
diseases  which  almost  depopulated  the  fine  agricultural  region  between  the 

acre,  and  the  land  produces  a  good  crop  every  season.  A  stock  company  has  been  formed 
to  drain  the  swamp  known  as  the  Overflow  of  Little  River.  This  one  flow  extends  about 
eighty  miles  in  length,  with  a  breadth  of  from  one  half  to  five  miles,  through  the  counties  of 
New  Madrid,  Pemiscot,  and  Dunklin,  all  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State.  This  com¬ 
pany  propose  to  cut  through  this  a  small  canal,  which  shall  be  navigable  for  small  vessels. 
The  project  of  draining  is  entirely  feasible,  as  the  fall  is  thirteen  inches  to  the  mile.  It  is  a 
fact  worthy  of  note  that  this  swamp  did  not  exist  prior  to  the  earthquake  of  1811,  and  was 
caused  by  the  upheaval  at  some  point  in  the  bed  of  Little  River,  and  thus  backing  of  the 
water  over  the  adjacent  lands.  The  belief  at  the  time  among  the  settlers  was  that  the  land 
had  sunk,  but  this  has  been  disproven  by  geological  and  other  scientific  examinations.  This 
great  body  of  some  of  the  finest  lands  in  the  State  is  submerged  for  above  three  months  in 
the  year,  and  is  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of  wild  grass,  cane,  etc.,  which  decays  upon  the 
ground.  The  land,  if  reclaimed,  will  make  the  section  valuable,  and  furnish  a  soil  that 
will  produce  one  hundred  bushels  of  corn,  or  a  bale  and  a  half  of  cotton  to  the  acre.  When 
the  swamp  lands  are  reclaimed,  they  are  greatly  enhanced  .in  value,  and  also  improve  the 
value  of  land  in  the  vicinity.  Public  opinion  now  favors  the  reclamation  of  swamp  lands 
both  for  health  and  for  profit,  and  legislation  gives  ample  power  to  the  counties  where 
swamps  exist,  to  authorize  their  drainage  and  the  levying  of  a  tax  upon  all  persons  benefit¬ 
ed,  to  cover  the  cost.  —  Register  of  Lands ,  Mo. 

Montana  Territory.  —  The  quantity  of  swamp  or  wet  lands  in  this  territory  is  not  known ; 
but  they  are  so  small  in  extent  and  so  widely  scattered  as  to  be  insignificant.  They  have 
attracted  little  or  no  attention,  consequently  there  has  been  no  survey  or  legislation  upon 
the  subject.  No  ill  health  is  suspected  as  flowing  from  wet  lands  in  this  territory. — 
A.  J.  Smith,  Surveyor-gen.  of  Territory  ( for  the  Governor ). 

New  Jersey.  —  There  are  295,000  acres  of  tide-water  marsh  lands  in  this  State,  bordering 
on  the  Newark  Bay,  Staten  Island  Sound,  Raritan  River  and  Bay ;  the  sea-shore  from 
Sandy  Hook  to  Cape  May,  and  the  border  of  Delaware  Bay  and  river  as  far  as  Camden. 
There  are  10,000  acres  of  wet  land,  or  land  liable  to  overflow  in  freshets  on  the  Walkill  in 
Sussex  County;  5,500  acres  on  the  Pequest  in  Warren  County;  25,000  acres  on  the 
Passaic  in  Somerset,  Morris,  Essex,  and  Passaic  counties;  1,600  acres  on  the  Pauluskill  in 
Sussex  County,  and  many  tracts  of  smaller  area  in  other  parts  of  the  State.  These  data 
have  been  drawn  from  the  geological  surveys ;  but  a  special  survey  of  this  class  of  lands 
has  been  ordered  by  the  State.  Perhaps  25,000  acres  of  tide  marsh  have  been  reclaimed, 
and  sections  of  variable  extent  of  overflowed  lands  have  been  partially  reclaimed  along  the 
rivers.  The  marshes  in  the  vicinity  of  Salem  were  drained  as  early  as  1700,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  present  have  been  profitably  managed  by  diking  and  other  measures;  15,000 
acres  in  Salem  County  alone  have  been  reclaimed.  Thus,  by  straightening  of  streams, 
ditching,  and  banking,  nearly  the  whole  area  of  marsh  and  overflowed  lands  can  be 
reclaimed,  and  the  cost  of  this  work  will  probably  not  average  two  dollars  per  acre  ! 

Such  lands,  when  reclaimed,  are  more  productive  than  uplands.  Settlers  are  found  along 
the  borders  of  the  swamps ;  but  strangers  generally  fear  them  on  account  of  the  malaria, 
and  in  some  localities  their  insalubrity  is  fully  recognized.  The  reclaimed  lands  are  always 
enhanced  in  value,  often  as  much  as  tenfold.  The  lands  adjacent  are  also  made  more 
valuable  on  account  of  improved  healthfulness  of  the  neighborhood.  It  is  confidently 
believed  that  nearly  all  the  swamp  lands  of  the  State  can  be  reclaimed.  The  Health 
Commission,  that  was  created  by  the  Legislature,  reported  in  1874  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
State  taking  action  for  the  reclamation  of  swamp  and  water-soaked  lands  in  the  interest  of 
the  public  health.  Many  special  acts  relative  to  drainage  have  been  passed;  but  this  work 
is  now  being  done  under  the  law  “to  provide  for  the  drainage  of  lands,”  passed  in  1871. 
The  great  number  of  owners,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  harmonious  action,  along  with 
property  rights  to  water-power  and  privileges,  are  found  to  be  retarding  the  improvements, 
and  thus  perpetuate  the  evils  of  swamp  land,  even  in  thickly  settled  localities.  By  the 
amended  law,  five  property  holders  desiring  to  have  their  lands  drained,  on  petition  to  the 
court  a  commission  is  constituted  to  survey  and  act  in  conjunction  with  the  State  Geologist, 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2g 


lake  and  the  coast.  The  construction  of  a  tunnel  to  lower  the  level  of  this 
lake  was  proposed  as  early  as  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  but  the  work  was  not 

and  if  they  consider  it  feasible  the  work  is  ordered  to  be  done,  and  the  cost  equally 
applied  to  all  parties  benefited.  The  interest  of  the  public  must  control  that  of  the 
individual,  and  the  State  must  act  as  umpire.  The  individual  cannot  be  permitted  to 
maintain  a  mill-dam,  or  carry  on  a  business  that  abridges  or  injures  the  rights  of  his 
neighbor.  Much  interest  is  now  being  manifested  by  the  citizens  on  the  question  of  the 
reclamation  of  swamp  and  water-soaked  lands,  both  from  a  sanitary  and  an  economic 
standpoint ;  and  much  good  is  sure  to  be  achieved  for  the  public  health  in  the  prompt 
execution  of  the  work  of  reclamation  of  some  of  the  richest  lands  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey.  —  Geo.  H.  Cook,  State  Geologist . 

New  Mexico. — This  Territory,  from  its  elevation  above  sea  level  and  ample  drainage, 
has  no  considerable  tracts  of  land  which  deserve  to  be  classed  as  swampy,  boggy,  or  water- 
soaked.  At  a  few  places  in  the  vicinity  of  springs  there  are  spots  of  wet  land  called 
“  cienegas,”  but  they  do  not  possess  much  commercial  or  sanitary  importance. 

New  York.  —  No  survey  of  swamp  or  water-soaked  and  bog  lands  has  been  made  by 
this  State,  consequently  the  area  of  such  lands  is  unknown.  Legislation  has  been  had  in 
reference  to  such  lands.  An  attempt  has  been  made,  but  as  yet  with  partial  success, 
though  it  is  believed  to  be  entirely  feasible,  to  drain  the  Montezuma  marshes  by  the  lower¬ 
ing  of  the  outlet  of  Geneva  Lake.  In  many  instances  drainage  of  wet  lands  has  been  ac¬ 
complished  by  private  enterprise,  on  a  limited  scale,  but  no  record  or  statistics  of  these 
results  exist.  The  State  owns  no  swamp  lands  except  those  in  the  Adirondac  region.  Nu¬ 
merous  special  acts  of  the  Legislature  have  been  passed  to  enable  private  enterprise  to 
drain  land.  A  general  Act  was  passed  in  1869  to  enable  owners  to  drain  through  adjoining 
property.  This  Act  was  amended  in  1870,  and  again  in  1872  and  1873.  —  T.  E.  Harri¬ 
son,  Agricultural  Secretary.  For  farther  facts  see  Dr.  Elisha  Harris’s  Report  on  Systematic 
Drainage  for  Health  in  the  State  of  New  York,  to  New  York  State  Medical  Society,  1861. 

[Long  Island  (and  counties),  Staten  Island,  Manhattan  Island,  and  Westchester  County, 
have  an  aggregate  of  120  square  miles  of  salt  marsh  and  water  soaked  lands,  now  nearly 
useless  and  generally  insalubrious. 

The  Oneida  swamp  contains  20,000  acres,  the  Cayuga  and  Montezuma  contains  60,000, 
the  Madison  County  swamp  about  10,000,  the  Tonawanda  swamps  22,000.  These  are  all 
lowland  swamps  and  marshes. 

The  summit  or  high-land  swamps  cover  nearly  100  square  miles.  I  count  the  15,000 
acres  of  Orange  County  drowned  lands  in  the  latter.  Thus  we  find  in  the  beautiful  State 
of  New  York  390  square  miles  of  swamp  and  marshes,  nearly  every  acre  of  which  may  be 
completely  reclaimed  and  made  useful  to  man.  —  Dr.  E.  Harris.] 

Oregon.  —  There  has  been  but  a  partial  survey  of  the  swamp  and  water-soaked  lands  of 
this  State.  It  is  estimated,  however,  that  their  extent  will  reach  a  million  and  a  half  acres. 
These  lands  lie  chiefly  along  the  Columbia  River. 

Wappatoo  and  La  Bish  .Lakes  in  Grand  Rinde  Valley  and  about  the  Klamath  and 
Goose  Lakes  in  Southern  Oregon,  including  Klamath  Marsh,  Thompson’s  Valley,  Sum¬ 
mer  and  Silver  Lakes,  Warner  Valley  and  Lakes,  and  Chewanean  Marsh.  There  are  also 
marsh  and  swamp  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  the  sea-coast.  There  has  been  no  official  publi¬ 
cation  relative  to  these  lands  in  Oregon. 

The  quantity  of  swamp  lands  as  yet  reclaimed  is  limited,  but  such  lands  are  very  pro¬ 
ductive,  and  as  most  of  this  class  of  lands  lie  above  tide,  are  susceptible  of  drainage.  No 
complaints  are  made  of  the  unhealthfulness  of  these  swamps,  chiefly  because  these  water- 
soaked  and  swamp  areas  are  fed  by  abundant  fresh  springs.  But  it  has  been  found  that 
the  value  of  lands  in  the  neighborhood  is  enhanced  when  they  are  well  drained.  The  at¬ 
tention  of  farmers  and  speculators  is  now  actively  directed  to  this  question  of  drainage  for 
profit.  Every  crop  and  all  kinds  of  pasture  are  produced  profitably  on  such  reclaimed 
lands. 

The  Legislature,  October  26,  1870,  passed  an  act  which  refers  to  the  purchase  and  rec¬ 
lamation  of  overflowed  lands,  with  a  view  to  encourage  enterprise  and  capital  in  this  di¬ 
rection.  The  successful  reclamation  of  this  class  of  lands  in  Oregon  is  entirely  feasible, 


30 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


begun  until  the  time  of  Claudius,  and  it  was  only  made  a  practical  success  by 
Hadrian.  Prince  Tolanea,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  six  million  dollars,  is  bringing 

and  will  add  to  or  insure  salubrity,  and  will  give  greater  area  of  good  cultivable  land,  and 
do  much  to  encourage  and  support  a  large  agricultural  population.  —  L.  F.  Grover,  Gov¬ 
ernor  of  Oregon. 

Rhode  Island.  —  No  accurate  survey  of  the  swamp,  water-soaked,  and  boggy  lands  of  the 
State  has  been  made.  The  State  census  of  1865  shows  that  the  salt  marshes  of  the  State 
contain  3,531  acres.  Nearly  every  township  in  the  State  contains  more  or  less  water- 
soaked,  swampy  lands.  The  largest  swamp  in  the  State  is  known  as  the  “  Great  Swamp  ” 
in  South  Kensington,  which  is  said  to  contain  about  1,500  acres.  The  reclamation  of  the 
swamp  lands  has  been  carried  on  to  some  extent,  and  with  measurably  good  results.  The 
quantity  of  such  reclaimed  lands  cannot  be  given ;  it  is  probably  small.  The  fact  that  the 
reservoirs  of  water  are  of  importance  to  the  mill  interests,  controls  even  the  question  of 
drainage.  But  fortunately  malarial  fevers  are  not  traced  to  these  swamps,  nor  does  popu¬ 
lar  opinion  assign  to  them  any  unfavorable  influence  upon  health.  Experiments  for  the  rec¬ 
lamation  of  these  lands  have  been  made  and  reports  of  the  results  have  been  published 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Society  for  Domestic  Industry  for  1850,  1851,  and  1855.  The 
reclaimed  lands  so  far,  have  been  found  to  be  very  productive,  and  the  redemption  undoubt¬ 
edly  enhances  their  value,  and  that  of  the  adjacent  lands.  An  Act  was  passed  by  the  Leg¬ 
islature  in  1874,  looking  to  the  redemption  of  all  or  any  of  this  class  of  lands  in  the  State. 
The  whole  area  of  the  swamp  lands  of  Rhode  Island  would  probably  not  exceed  20,000 
acres.  —  J.  S.  Pittman,  Secretary. 

Pennsylvania .  —  This  great  State  has  not  furnished  any  data  upon  which  to  form  an  es¬ 
timate  of  the  extent  of  swamp  and  boggy  lands  within  her  territory.  The  Hon.  William 
McCandless  writes  for  the  governor  that  the  Department  of  State  does  not  possess  the  in¬ 
formation.  It  is  known  that  in  some  of  the  counties  considerable  tracts  of  this  character 
of  lands  exist,  which  if  reclaimed  would  improve  the  value  and  conserve  the  public  health. 
As  these  notes  are  all  made  up  from  briefing  or  correspondence  on  the  subject  with  the 
governors  of  the  States  and  the  Agricultural  Department,  I  shall  not  supply  facts  from 
other  sources  available  to  all  students. 

South  Carolina.  —  As  no  survey  of  this  class  of  lands  has  been  made,  no  exact  data  exist 
in  any  of  the  departments  of  the  State ;  the  information  furnished  by  Gov.  D.  H.  Cham¬ 
berlain  will  give  an  approximate  estimate  derived  from  those  best  informed  on  the  sub¬ 
ject. 

The  area  of  swamp  lands  is  estimated  to  be  between  five  and  six  millions  of  acres.  Many 
of  the  swamps  are  designated  by  local  names.  There  has  been  perhaps  35,000  acres  of  this 
land  reclaimed  to  cultivation,  with  success  where  the  methods  pursued  were  suitable  and 
properly  executed. 

Individual  efforts  only  have  been  evoked  in  this  enterprise.  No  general  or  State  system 
has  been  devised;  — embanking  and  ditching,  such  as  each  farmer  thought  proper  to  exe¬ 
cute,  and  looking  only  to  his  own  interest.  The  swamp  lands  are  esteemed  unfavorable  to 
health.  Reclamation  by  draining  is  considered  to  improve  the  salubrity  and  increase  the 
value  of  the  lands  in  both  a  commercial  and  productive  way.  Attention  is  being  drawn  to 
the  subject  of  drainage,  but  it  has  not  yet  assumed  a  practical  form.  Obstructions  and 
dams  to  the  courses  of  streams  have  been  removed,  with  a  view  to  improve  the  public 
health.  The  reclaimed  lands  are  best  suited  for  the  production  of  rice  and  corn.  —  D.  H. 
Chamberlain,  Governor. 

Tennessee.  —  No  survey  of  the  swamp,  water-soaked,  and  boggy  lands  of  the  State  has 
been  made.  It  is  estimated  (there  are  no  statistics)  that  there  are  about  185,000  acres  of 
swamp  and  boggy  lands,  independent  of  the  permanent  lakes  fed  by  springs  which  do  not 
become  stagnant.  Reelfoot  Lake  in  Obion  County  is  eighteen  miles  long,  and  has  a  width 
of  from  a  half  a  mile  to  three  miles,  and  abounds  in  a  variety  of  fish.  This  lake  did  not 
exist  previous  to  the  earthquake  of  1811-12.  Its  existence  is  due  to  the  filling  up  of  a  por¬ 
tion  of  the  channel  of  Reelfoot  Creek  by  the  convulsion  of  the  earth  at  that  time  damming 
up  the  water,  and  preventing  its  free  exit  to  the  Mississippi.  Haywood  County  also  has  a 
number  of  lakes  well  stocked  with  fish.  Perhaps  one  tenth  of  the  water-soaked  and  boggy 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3  I 


this  engineering  project  to  a  successful  completion.  The  land  he  has  already 
reclaimed  to  salubrity  and  agriculture  affords  a  livelihood  for  sixteen  thou¬ 
sand  persons,  and  it  is  said  when  the  work  is  completed  the  lands  recovered 

lands,  given  in  the  above  estimate,  have  been  reclaimed  by  private  enterprise.  There  has 
been  no  special  legislation  looking  to  the  reclamation  of  this  class  of  lands.  Chills  and 
fevers  prevail  in  the  vicinity  of  such  swamps.  And  it  is  well  established  that  the  salubrity 
and  value  of  lands  is  enhanced  when  thoroughly  drained,  though  good  lands  are  so 
abundant  that  the  influence  of  drainage  on  surrounding  property  is  not  apparent.  The 
largest  body  of  overflowed  lands  lies  along  the  Mississippi  River,  in  the  counties  of  Lake, 
Dyer,  Lauderdale,  Tipton,  and  Shelby.  These  embrace  about  four  hundred  thousand 
acres,  about  one  fourth  of  which  lies  about  ten  to  eighteen  miles  back  from  the  river, 
and  is  in  a  boggy  and  marshy  condition.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  Mississippi  River 
Valley,  the  lands  just  along  the  streams  are  higher  than  those  a  little  further  back.  This 
is  notably  the  fact  along  the  moderately  large-sized  streams,  —  the  Forked  Deer,  the 
Obion,  the  Big  Hatchie,  the  Wolf,  and  the  tributaries  all  running  southeast,  and  emp¬ 
tying  into  the  Mississippi  River.  Although  there  are  overflows  from  all  of  these  streams, 
still  the  great  want  is  a  levee  of  the  Mississippi  River,  of  sufficient  strength  to  protect 
the  country  along  its  course.  The  beds  of  the  smaller  streams  generally  are  lower  than 
the  swamps,  and,  therefore,  drainage  of  the  wet  lands  along  these  is  entirely  feasible.  The 
gum-swamps,  where  the  soil  is  of  an  ashy  color,  are  not  found  to  be  productive  ;  but  in  the 
cypress-swamps,  and  where  the  soil  is  of  a  dark  hue,  the  reclaimed  lands  prove  very  produc¬ 
tive  of  the  grasses  and  small  crops.  From  the  Lower  Tennessee  River  to  the  Cumberland 
table -lands,  the  country  is  well  drained ;  perhaps  in  all  this  extent  there  are  not  more 
than  ten  thousand  acres  unfit  for  cultivation,  and  these  are  elevated,  and  can  be  drained  at 
slight  expense.  At  the  junction  of  the  Emory  River  with  the  Clinch,  south  of  the  first  and 
west  of  the  latter,  there  is  a  swamp  of  about  four  miles  in  length,  and  from  one  fourth  to  a 
half  in  width.  This  can  readily  be  reclaimed  by  ditching.  On  Lick  Creek,  in  Green  County, 
'exists  much  swamp  land,  partly  wet  in  winter.  The  soil  has  a  bluish-yellow  appearance,  upon 
which  herd’s-grass  grows  luxuriantly.  Here  some  of  the  farmers  have  made  open  ditches, 
which  greatly  assist  in  carrying  off  the  superabundant  water.  This  swamp  has,  perhaps, 
four  thousand  acres.  In  the  swamps  of  Tennessee,  when  first  drained,  the  soil  is  found  to 
be  surcharged  with  acids,  probably  pyroligneous  and  humic,  but  exposure  and  tillage  soon 
remove  these.  Some  small  swamps  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Kentucky  line,  in  the  counties  of 
Stewart,  Montgomery,  Robertson,  and  Macon,  have  a  soil  largely  intermixed  wdth  a  small, 
hard,  black  gravel ;  this  soil,  when  drained,  is  not  found  to  be  sufficiently  productive  to 
requite  for  the  cost  and  labor ;  but  this  is  of  very  limited  area.  The  drained  lands  gener¬ 
ally  are  very  productive,  and  reward  the  farmer  handsomely. 

In  all  of  what  is  known  as  the  Cumberland  table-lands,  there  are  not  more  than  15,000 
acres  of  wet  and  swampy  lands.  In  East  Tennessee,  there  are  no  swamps  worth  mention. 
The  farmers  of  this  State  are,  of  late,  giving  more  attention  to  draining  their  lands ;  and 
there  is  a  growing  confidence  in  its  influence  upon  salubrity,  as  well  as  increased  produc¬ 
tiveness. —  J.  B.  Killebrew,  Com.  of  Agriculture. 

Vermont.  —  No  separate  survey  of  the  swamp  and  boggy  lands  of  this  State  has  been 
made.  The  State  Geologist,  Hiram  A.  Cutting,  who  is  quite  familiar  with  the  subject, 
estimates  the  whole  area  entitled  to  be  embraced  in  this  class  as  aggregating  37,500  acres. 
There  are  no  large  swamps.  The  same  person  estimates  that  about  6,250  acres  have  been 
reclaimed,  which  make  good  meadow  land.  The  modes  of  reclamation  resorted  to  have 
been  ditching,  and  changing  water-courses.  This  class  of  lands  is  not  found  to  be  produc¬ 
tive,  except  for  grass.  The  value  of  lands  is  enhanced  by  the  draining  of  swamps  ;  but  this 
increase  of  value  does  not  often  extend  to  the  adjacent  lands.  Governor  Peck  writes  that  this 
character  of  lands,  though  not  existing  in  any  considerable  quantity,  have  attracted  some 
attention,  and  efforts  from  time  to  time  have  been  made  for  their  reclamation.  Hence  a 
law  was  passed,  bearing  upon  the  subject,  in  1868,  and  an  amended  law  with  increased  pro¬ 
visions  was  passed  in  1874.  As  there  is  but  little  stagnant  water  in  the  swamps  of  this 
State,  their  reclamation  is  chiefly  with  a  view  to  profit  rather  than  to  benefit  health,  although 


32 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


will  give  homes  and  employment  to  over  forty  thousand.  Its  sanitary  im¬ 
portance  cannot  be  estimated,  though  its  immense  economic  value  to  the 
state  is  at  once  apparent.  In  the  United  States  we  have  given  as  yet  less 
attention  to  the  subject  of  drainage  of  water-soaked,  alluvial,  and  over¬ 
flowed  lands  than  we  should,  and  chiefly  because  good,  dry  lands  were  cheap 
and  abundant.  The  lands  requiring  drainage,  as  we  will  show,  lie  chiefly 
along  the  coast  and  in  the  vicinity  of  our  lakes  and  at  the  heads  of  bays, 
and  along  the  courses  of  our  larger  rivers.  The  success  that  has  attended 
engineering  in  this  department  of  hydraulics  in  other  countries,  suggests  that 
we  only  need  earnest  and  able  engineers  to  insure  similar  results  in  the  re¬ 
demption  of  immense  areas  of  the  richest  lands  in  America,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  promote  salubrity  and  conserve  the  public  health. 

The  elements  —  it  is  observed  —  air,  frost,  and  running  water,  are  con¬ 
stantly  disintegrating  and  washing  down  from  the  mountains,  hills,  and  up¬ 
lands  not  only  the  productive  soil,  but  rock  and  earth  strata,  and  depositing 
them  in  the  low  lands,  or  forming  deltas  and  alluvial  lands  at  the  mouths  of 
rivers,  in  lakes,  or  along  the  sea-shore.  There  is  not  a  harbor  or  seaport 
city  at  the  mouth  of  a  great  river  that  would  not  in  a  few  years  be  filled  up 
so  that  ships  could  not  reach  its  wharves  except  for  the  constant  dredging 
which  is  done  to  remove  the  fluviatile  deposits  and  the  washings  from  the 
streets  and  sewers  of  the  city.  Indeed,  the  tendency  of  the  elevated  lands 
is  toward  the  deep  sea.  This  movement  is  indicated  by  the  existence  of 
immense  alluvial  plains  and  deltas  formed  from  the  soil  and  disintegrated 
rocks  which  have  been  transported  to,  and  have  encroached  upon  the  sea  at 
the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers  in  different  parts  of  the  world.1 

I  have  no  doubt  they  do  to  some  extent  affect  the  latter.  —  Hiram  A.  Cutting,  State 
Geologist. 

Virginia.  —  The  reply  received  from  the  Governor  of  this  State,  to  the  application  for 
information  relative  to  the  area  of  undrained  lands,  was  that  “  no  data  exist  in  any  de¬ 
partment  of  the  State  that  would  enable  him  to  approximate  the  area.”  —  James  L. 
Kemper. 

West  Virginia.  —  This  State  is  almost  entirely  mountainous  or  rolling,  and  is  well 
drained  by  streams  of  rapid  current.  The  few  swamps  that  exist  are  so  small  in  area  as 
to  attract  but  little  attention,  and  are  not  known  to  have  any  deleterious  influence  upon 
health.  Private  interests,  and  individual  owners  of  such  lands  are  gradually  draining  them 
for  pasture  lands.  —  John  J.  Jacobs,  Governor. 

1  Delta  of  the  Mississippi.  —  The  Mississippi  River,  with  its  principal  affluent,  the  Mis¬ 
souri,  is  the  longest  river  (4,350  miles)  in  the  world,  but  not  the  largest.  It  drains  the 
vast  area  between  the  Alleghany  and  Rocky  Mountains.  The  headwaters  of  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  proper  have  their  origin  about  1 ,680  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the  divide  between  the 
Red  River  of  the  North  and  the  streams  which  flow  3,160  miles  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
The  sources  of  the  Missouri  are  among  the  snow-capped  peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  from  points  north  of  the  forty-ninth  degree  of  north  latitude.  The  average  descent  of 
the  Mississippi  is  six  inches  and  a  fraction  to  the  mile.  The  average  depth  of  this  river, 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  varies  from  ninety  to  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet,  and  the 
breadth  from  six  hundred  to  twelve  hundred  yards.  The  mean  velocity,  between  the  Gulf 
and  the  junction  of  the  Missouri,  is  from  sixty  to  seventy  miles  a  day.  The  delta  of  the 
Mississippi,  as  given  by  Lyell,  is  about  two  hundred  miles  in  length,  with  a  mean  width  of 
seventy-five  miles,  comprising  an  area  of  fifteen  thousand  square  miles.  Col.  C.  G. 
Forshey  includes,  in  his  description  of  the  delta,  the  alluvial  land,  the  two  making  38,706 
square  miles.  The  sediment  annually  brought  down  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries 
has  been  estimated  to  be  equal  to  a  deposit  of  a  foot  in  thickness  over  twelve  square  miles. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


33 


The  examination  of  this  question  has  led  me  to  collect  some  data  as  to 
the  situation,  extension,  and  rate  of  increase  of  the  principal  deltas.  Lands 

Messrs.  Humphrey  and  Abbott  estimate  the  annual  prolongation  of  the  delta  at  six  yards. 
The  whole  southern  border  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  says  McCulloch,  consists  either  of 
sea  marsh  or  vast  plains,  which  occupy  one  fifth  of  the  surface  of  the  State.  The  whole 
region  about  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  one  continued  swamp.  From  lat.  320  to  310,  the 
average  width  of  overflowed  land  is  twenty  miles.  From  lat.  310  to  the  efflux  of  La  Fourche, 
the  width  is  forty  miles.  Colonel  Forshey  estimates  that  3,616  square  miles  are  irre¬ 
claimable,  but  that  the  reclaimable  delta  has  an  area  of  35,813  square  miles,  or  about 
22,920,320  acres. 

The  following  resolution  was  passed  July  23,  1874,  by  the  Commission  of  Engineers 
appointed  by  Congress  “  to  investigate  and  report  a  permanent  plan  for  the  reclamation  of 
the  alluvial  basin  of  the  Mississippi  River  subject  to  inundation.” 

“  Resolved ,  That  heretofore  all  cultivation  of  the  Mississippi  bottom  lands  owes  its  suc¬ 
cess  to  the  construction  of  levees,  and  that  this  Commission  has  confidence  that  the  system, 
properly  applied,  is  adequate  to  the  protection  of  the  country  against  floods.  Whether  it 
should  be  exclusively  trusted,  or  be  combined  with  outlets,  is  a  matter  to  be  decided  by 
economical  considerations  ”  (p.  148,  Report). 

Delta  of  the  Nile .  —  That  Egypt  was  the  “  Gift  of  the  Nile,”  was  the  opinion  of  her 
priests  before  the  time  of  Herodotus.  He  observes  that  the  country  around  Memphis 
seemed  formerly  to  have  been  an  arm  of  the  sea,  gradually  filled  up  by  the  Nile.  Egypt, 
therefore,  he  says,  like  the  Red  Sea,  was  once  a  long  narrow  bay,  and  both  gulfs  were  sep¬ 
arated  by  a  small  neck  of  land  (Lyell).  This  celebrated  river,  taking  its  rise  in  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  the  Moon  at  an  elevation  of  15,000  feet,  flows  through  two  main  streams,  the  Blue 
and  the  White  rivers.  The  former  has  its  source  in  lat.  150  37'  N.,  long.  36°  50'  E.,  and 
the  latter  is  said  to  rise  on  the  Gomberat  Mountains.  After  running  through  intermediate 
marshes,  jungles,  and  desert  waste  for  3,000  miles,  it  discharges  its  waters  and  sediment 
into  the  Mediterranean  by  two  mouths,  the  Rosetta  and  Damietta.  The  average  ve¬ 
locity  of  the  Nile,  in  Egypt,  is,  from  Asswan  to  the  sea,  three  miles  per  hour.  For  about 
six  hundred  miles  the  region  is  subject  to  overflow,  the  average  fall  being  three  inches  per 
mile,  and  the  current  slower.  The  delta  in  its  greatest  breadth  is  eighty-five  miles  from 
east  to  west,  and  the  distance  from  its  apex  to  the  sea  is  rather  more  than  ninety  miles,  and 
includes  an  area  of  8,600  square  miles.  Great  changes  have  taken  place  along  the  delta 
in  the  lapse  of  ages  ;  the  soil  has  not  only  been  elevated  many  feet  by  alluvial  deposits,  but 
its  accretion  has  altered  the  coast  line  within  the  historic  period.  If  the  advance  of  the  al¬ 
luvial  deposits  was  not  more  rapid  during  past  ages  than  it  is  at  present,  it  must  have  taken 
the  Nile  no  less  than  74,253  years  to  deposit,  grain  by  grain,  its  triangular  plain  or  delta, 
comprising  an  area  of  8,610  square  miles.  The  advance  of  the  shore  line,  it  is  estimated, 
averages  two  feet  annually.  The  whole  delta  is  exceedingly  productive,  and,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  although  subject  to  overflow,  still,  during  the  dry  season,  it  requires  irrigation  to 
secure  a  crop. 

The  Delta  of  the  Ganges.  —  The  River  Ganges  has  its  sources  in  the  central  chain  of  the 
Himalayas  at  an  elevation  of  from  13,000  to  18,000  feet  above  the  sea;  but  from  Hurdwar, 
nearly  at  the  foot  of  the  Himalayas,  —  a  distance  of  about  1,200  miles,  —  the  fall  of  the 
river  to  the  mouth  is  only  one  thousand  feet.  The  total  length  of  the  river  is  estimated  at 
1,960  miles.  The  delta  begins  two  hundred  miles  from  the  sea,  and  is  from  eighty  to  two 
hundred  miles  in  breadth.  That  part  of  the  delta  bordering  on  the  sea,  known  as  the  Sun- 
derbunds,  is  a  dreary,  unhealthy  region,  covered  with  wood,  and  broken  up  by  numerous 
creeks  and  rivers,  all  of  which  are  salt,  except  those  that  immediately  communicate  with 
the  principal  arm  of  the  Ganges.  After  the  rains  have  become  general,  the  river  rises  to  a 
height  of  thirty-two  feet  above  its  ordinary  level ;  and  by  the  end  of  July  all  the  flat  coun¬ 
try  of  Bengal,  contiguous  to  the  Ganges  and  Brahmapootra,  is  overflowed  to  an  extent  in 
breadth  of  one  hundred  miles.  The  quantity  of  water  discharged  into  the  ocean  by  the 
Ganges  is  computed  to  be  500,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  in  the  four  months  of  the  flood 
season,  and  100,000  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  The  quantity  of  mud  brought  down  an¬ 
nually  is  computed  to  be  235,521,387  cubic  yards,  and  it  discolors  the  sea  to  a  distance  of 
3 


34 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


formed  in  this  way  are  almost  everywhere  fertile  when  above  high  tides,  or 
when  reclaimed  from  semi-overflowed  swamps  and  water-soaked  conditions. 

sixty  miles  from  the  coast.  Major  R.  H.  Colebrook,  cited  by  Lyell,  states  that  such  is  the 
looseness  of  the  soil  that  the  Ganges,  in  excavating  a  new  channel,  in  one  instance,  carried 
away  forty  square  miles  in  the  course  of  a  few  years. 

The  Delta  of  the  Euphrates. — The  Euphrates,  the  most  considerable  river  of  Western 
Asia,  rises  in  the  table-land  of  Armenia,  and  flows  generally  parallel  to  the  Tigris  in  a 
southeasterly  direction.  In  lat.  310  o'  28"  N.,  and  long.  470  40"  E.,  it  unites  with  the 
latter  to  form  the  Shat-el-Arab  (River  of  Arabia),  which  discharges  its  waters  into  the  head 
of  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  basin  of  the  Euphrates,  exclusive  of  that  of  the  Tigris,  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  comprise  about  109,000  square  miles.  The  river  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Frat  and  Morad.  The  former,  the  most  northern,  has  its  principal  sources  in  the  Tcheldir 
Mountains,  about  5,000  feet  above  the  sea  ;  the  latter  has  its  sources  on  the  northern  de¬ 
clivity  of  the  Arghidagh  Mountains.  The  united  stream  flows  southwest,  and  forces  a  pas¬ 
sage  through  the  main  range  of  the  Taurus  mountains.  The  length  of  the  Euphrates,  esti¬ 
mating  from  the  source  of  the  Morad,  is  1,800  miles ;  its  average  breadth  is  about  two 
hundred  yards,  and  its  depth  from  twelve  to  thirty  feet.  The  extent  of  land  covered  by  the 
deposits  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  is  about  32,000  square  miles.  The  velocity  of  the  cur¬ 
rent  of  the  Euphrates  is  from  two  to  four  miles  per  hour,  and  the  amount  of  water  dis¬ 
charged  from  its  mouth  is  236,907  cubic  feet  per  second.  The  increment  of  land  about  the 
delta  has  been  found  to  be  a  mile  in  thirty  years,  —  about  double  the  increase  of  any  other 
delta  in  the  world. 

Delta  of  the  Amazojt.  —  The  Amazon,  the  principal  river  in  South  America,  and  probably 
the  largest,  though  not  the  longest  river  in  the  world,  has  its  origin  in  the  Andes  in  Peru, 
flowing  4,000  miles.  It  drains  an  area  estimated  at  2,500,000  square  miles,  and  empties 
into  the  Atlantic  130,000  cubic  yards  per  second.  It  flows  from  Jaen,  which  is  1,240  feet 
above  tide-level,  with  a  current  varying  from  1  to  3.7  miles  per  hour.  When  the  river  over¬ 
flows,  it  covers  the  marshes  on  its  banks,  forming  a  perfect  sea  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  in  width.  The  tide  is  perceptible  at  Abidos  at  the  full  of  the  moon,  four  hundred 
miles  inland.  The  phenomena  of  the  bore  tides  or  waves  occur  in  this  region.  Such  is  the 
volume  and  impetus  of  this  stream,  that  it  carries  all  its  waters  unmixed  into  the  sea  to  the 
distance  of  above  eighty  leagues  (Lippincott).  The  breadth  of  the  largest  mouth,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Imperial  Gazette ,  is  ninety-six  miles ;  but  the  two  arms,  with  the  island  in¬ 
cluded,  cover  a  width  of  perhaps  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Although  the  delta  has  not 
encroached  much  on  the  coast  line,  the  area  of  alluvial  deposits  is  large,  and  it  is  very  fer¬ 
tile. 

The  Delta  of  the  Orinoco  has  its  apex  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  the  sea.  It  is 
a  large  river  rising  in  the  Sierra  Venezuela  and  emptying  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the 
Gulf  of  Paria  through  many  mouths.  It  has  a  navigable  channel  communicating  with  the 
Rio  Negro,  and  also  with  the  Amazon.  The  tide  reaches  to  Angostura,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  from  the  sea,  and  has  a  width  here  of  four  miles.  For  five  hundred  miles  before 
emptying  into  the  sea,  there  are  extensive  swamps  with  much  rich  pasturage.  At  certain 
seasons,  the  floods  cover  the  flats  for  many  miles  in  all  directions. 

The  Delta  of  the  Fo.  —  The  River  Po  has  its  sources  in  the  Alps,  and  carries  down  to  the 
Adriatic  the  earthy  matter  poured  into  it  by  a  multitude  of  tributaries,  loaded  with  the 
denudation  from  the  high  lands.  The  deposit  of  this  fluviatile  material  has  effected  great 
changes  in  the  plains  of  Italy  since  the  time  of  the  Roman  Republic.  Along  the  shores 
of  the  Adriatic,  from  the  northern  part  of  the  Gulf  of  Trieste,  where  the  Isenzo  enters, 
down  to  the  south  of  Ravenna,  more  than  one  hundred  miles  there  is  an  uninterrupted  ac¬ 
cretion  of  land,  which,  within  the  last  two  thousand  years,  has  increased  from  two  to  twenty 
miles  in  breadth.  It  is  calculated  that  the  mean  annual  rate  of  advance  of  the  delta  of  the 
Po  upon  the  Gulf  was,  from  the  years  1200  to  1600,  about  twenty-five  yards.  From  1600 
to  1804,  it  averaged,  according  to  Lyell,  seventy-six  yards  annually.  The  city  of  Adria,  now 
over  twenty  Italian  miles  from  the  Gulf,  was,  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  a  seaport  of  much 
importance.  The  city  of  Ravenna,  once  a  seaport,  is  now,  owing  to  the  accretions  of  the 
land,  four  miles  from  the  sea.  This  is  also  true  of  the  ancient  city  of  Spina,  and  other 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES .  35 


Whether  or  not  the  American  people  recognize  at  this  time  the  necessity  or 
importance  of  reclaiming  the  swamp  lands  of  the  United  States  to  agriculture 

places,  once  seaports  but  now  far  inland.  In  order  to  check  the  inroads  made  upon  the 
alluvial  lands  by  the  rivers  along  their  course,  a  system  of  embankments  were  erected 
along  the  Po,  Adige,  and  most  of  their  tributaries,  and  they  have  been  kept  in  repair  for 
many  centuries. 

The  Delta  of  the  Danube.  —  The  Danube  originates  in  two  small  streams,  which  rise  on 
the  eastern  declivity  of  the  Black  Forest  and  Carpathian  Mountains,  at  an  elevation  of 
2,850  feet  above  sea  level.  The  distance  from  its  source  to  its  mouth  is  about  1,800  miles, 
and  including  its  windings  2,423  miles.  It  is  navigable  at  Ulm  for  small  boats.  The  delta 
of  the  Danube  is  a  vast,  swampy  flat,  interspersed  with  lagoons  encroaching  slowly  upon 
the  sea,  and  which  are  gradually  filling  up  and  becoming  reclaimable  (McC.).  The  river 
discharges  itself  through  five  mouths  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  its  water  is  distinguishable 
in  the  latter  at  a  distance  of  forty-six  miles. 

Delta  of  the  Rhine.  —  The  Rhine  rises  on  the  north  side  of  the  Alps,  and  flowing  through 
Switzerland  and  Germany  falls  into  the  North  Sea  or  German  Ocean.  It  is  nine  hundred 
and  sixty  miles  long,  and  has  an  area  of  basin  or  drainage,  including  tributaries,  of  83,298 
square  miles.  The  sources  of  the  Rhine  are  near  those  of  the  Rhone  in  the  Alps,  at  an 
elevation  of  6,581  feet  above  the  sea.  The  delta  is  the  largest  in  Europe,  indeed,  the  rich 
alluvial  lands  of  the  whole  of  Holland  are  the  gift  of  this  stream,  whose  mouths  extend,  with 
their  ramifications,  one  hundred  miles  along  the  coast,  from  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee  to  the  south  branch  of  the  Maas ;  the  distance  from  the  base  to  the  apex  of  the  delta 
being  seventy-two  miles,  and  the  total  area  within  its  limits  4,150  square  miles.  The  mean 
descent  of  the  river  from  Strasburg  is  estimated  at  one  and  three-tenths  feet  per  mile,  and 
the  current  may  average  somewhat  more  than  three  miles  an  hour. 

Delta  of  the  Volga. — The  Volga,  the  largest  river  in  Europe,  rises  in  Lake  Seligher  on 
the  plateau  of  Valdai,  in  lat.  570  N.,  long.  330  io'  E.,  at  an  elevation  of  five  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  the  sea.  The  extent  of  its  basin,  including  tributaries,  is  estimated  at  four 
hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and,  including  its  windings,  its  course  is  2,500  miles,  during 
which  its  entire  fall,  where  it  empties  into  the  Caspian  Sea,  is  633  feet.  The  head  of  the 
delta  is  one  hundred  miles  from  the  sea.  It  discharges  itself  by  sixty  or  seventy  mouths. 
The  Caspian  Sea  is  eighty-three  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Indian  Ocean  (Lipp.). 

Delta  of  the  Rhone.  —  The  Rhone  rises  in  the  Pennine  Alps,  the  highest  source  being  on 
the  west  side  of  Mt.  St.  Gothard,  at  an  elevation  of  5,780  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  five 
hundred  and  ninety  miles  long.  The  river  passes  through  Lake  Lehman,  and  enters  France 
through  the  Jura  mountains.  Its  fluviatile  matter  is  filling  up  Lake  Geneva.  The  esti¬ 
mated  area  of  its  basin  is  37,300  square  miles.  The  Rhone  enters  the  Mediterranean  by 
four  mouths,  the  first  separation  occurring  at  Arles,  where  two  branches  are  formed,  the 
Great  Rhone  and  the  Little  Rhone,  enclosing  the  alluvial  island  of  Camargue,  which  has 
an  area  of  1,900  square  miles.  The  Rhone  has  a  rapid  course,  and  brings  down  a  whitish 
sediment,  discoloring  the  Mediterranean  to  a  distance  of  six  or  seven  miles. 

Della  of  the  Indus.  —  The  Indus  rises  on  the  north  side  of  the  Cailas  (of  the  Hima¬ 
layas).  Its  total  length  is  estimated  at  1,650  miles.  The  Indus  enters  the  sea  by  a  great 
number  of  mouths.  The  head  of  the  delta  is  near  Tatta,  and  extends  from  there  to  the 
ocean  at  Hyderabad  and  Kurrachee,  being  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  in  length  and 
breadth.  The  source  of  the  Indus,  in  the  Himalaya  range,  is  supposed  to  be  18,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  At  Attock,  940  miles  from  its  mouth,  where  it  is  1,000  feet  above  the  ocean 
level,  it  is  800  feet  across,  60  feet  in  depth,  and  has  a  current  of  six  miles  an  hour. 

Delta  of  the  Niger.  —  The  Delta  of  the  Niger  is  in  the  Gulf  of  Benin,  and  commences 
about  eighty  miles  from  the  sea,  and  is  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  in  extent  along  the 
coast.  The  whole  surface  is  low,  flat,  and  swampy,  but  affords  good  pasturage  for  cattle, 
and  is  tilled  for  rice,  millet,  and  maize.  The  tide  extends  up  the  river  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty  miles. 

Delta  of  the  Hoang  Ho.  — The  river  Hoang  Ho  rises  on  the  table  lands  of  Central  Asia, 
flows  2,000  miles,  and  empties  into  the  Yellow  Sea,  through  ten  or  more  mouths,  forming  a 
delta,  which  is  estimated  to  extend  over  at  least  96,000  square  miles.  This  area  of  alluvial 


3^ 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


as  an  economic  measure,  if  not  for  sanitary  reasons,  there  is  certainly  a  time 
approaching  in  the  near  future  when  such  lands  will  be  required  to  support 
the  rapidly  increasing  population  of  our  country.  History  teaches  that  the 
cultivated  uplands  in  all  parts  of  the  world  are  constantly  becoming  impov¬ 
erished  and  yearly  less  productive,  or  are  kept  fertile  only  by  an  enormous 
expenditure  of  labor  and  means.  I  believe  it  would  be  in  the  true  interest 
of  the  whole  country — and  I  therefore  suggest  that  the  Legislatures  of  the 
several  States  be  asked  —  to  authorize  commissions  to  make  accurate  sur¬ 
veys  within  their  respective  territories  of  all  marsh  and  occasionally  over¬ 
flowed  and  water-soaked  lands  along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coast,  as  well  as 
those  along  our  lakes,  and  particularly  throughout  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  comprehensive  system  of  efficient 
drainage  and  the  reclamation  of  the  land  to  salubrity  and  occupation.1 

The  alluvial  lands  of  the  Mississippi  are  the  most  remarkable  and  valu¬ 
able  in  the  world  both  for  extent  and  richness.  They  are  at  present  almost 
worthless,  on  account  of  the  frequent  overflow  from  defective  levees  and 

land  constitutes  one  of  the  most  important  agricultural  provinces  in  China.  The  depth  of 
the  Yellow  Sea,  it  is  stated,  has  very  sensibly  diminished  about  the  mouth  of  the  Hoang  Ho 
River,  from  the  annual  alluvial  deposits.  The  delta  of  this  river  is  composed  entirely  of 
river  sediment. 

Delta  of  the  Tiber.  —  The  Tiber,  rising  in  the  Tuscan  Appenines,  after  flowing  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  eighty-five  miles,  enters  the  Mediterranean,  seventeen  miles  below  Rome,  by  two 
mouths,  which  inclose  a  small  delta  partly  reclaimed  for  agricultural  purposes.  This  was 
the  Insula  Sacra  of  the  ancients,  described  as  a  pestiferous  tract.  The  Tiber  at  Rome  is 
but  about  three  hundred  feet  wide  ;  the  waters  during  flood  tides  carry  with  them  great 
quantities  of  mud,  which  is  deposited  at  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

Delta  of  the  River  de  la  Plata.  —  The  Rio  de  la  Plata  is  a  great  river  of  South  America, 
or  an  estuary  into  which  pour  its  gigantic  tributaries  the  Parana  and  the  Uraguay.  It  is  more 
than  2,500  miles  in  length,  and  in  many  places  more  than  six  miles  in  width.  It  measures 
at  the  outlet  170  miles  across,  and  occupies  an  area  of  15,400  square  miles.  The  muddy 
waters  of  the  river  can  be  traced  in  the  ocean  two  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth,  gradually 
filling  up  the  Gulf  of  Buenos  Ayres  with  alluvial  deposits. 

1  The  Zuyder  Zee.  —  The  question  of  draining  the  Zuyder  Zee  has  been  mooted,  and  it  is 
probable  it  may  yet  be  accomplished  by  the  engineering  skill  of  the  future,  as  the  demand 
for  cultivable  land  increases. 

In  1853,  the  Government  of  the  Netherlands  finished  the  draining  of  Lake  Haarlem, 
which  formerly  covered  an  area  of  45,000  acres. 

Much  swamp  land  in  Hungary  has  been  drained  within  the  last  hundred  years,  and  more 
than  half  a  million  acres  of  swamp  has  been  converted  into  fertile  land  by  this  work. 

New  Jersey  is  remarkable  for  its  cedar  swamps.  They  occur  in  all  the  counties  south  of 
Monmouth,  but  are  most  extensive  in  Cape  May  and  the  adjoining  counties,  —  Atlantic  and 
Cumberland.  Prof.  G.  H.  Cook,  State  Geologist,  says,  a  swamp  of  sixty  years’  growth  will 
yield  from  four  thousand  to  seven  thousand  split  rails,  —  halves  and  quarters,  —  and  also 
states  that  between  one  and  two  million  acres  of  land  are  unimproved  in  consequence  of 
soil-saturation,  and  only  awaiting  the  investment  of  capital  in  drainage.  Millions  of  dollars 
have  already  been  —  according  to  Professor  Cook  —  invested  in  reclaiming  and  improving 
the  swamp  lands  of  New  Jersey. 

Prof.  J.  C.  Booth,  in  his  geological  survey  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  1844,  stated  that 
there  were  about  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  Delaware  marshes ;  but  a  large  portion  of 
this  area  has  since  been  reclaimed  by  diking. 

In  Ireland,  extensive  peat  bogs  have  been  drained  and  converted  thereby  into  arable 
territory.  Much  alluvial  land  along  the  rivers  and  shores  of  the  estuaries  of  southern 
Ireland  has  been  rendered  cultivable  by  art. 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3 7 


from  the  pestilential  miasmas  these  floods  create.  Even  in  sections  where 
the  high  waters  have  not  destroyed  the  improvements,  the  lands  are  often 
rendered  so  unhealthy  by  adjacent  swamps  that  they  cannot  be  cultivated  or 
inhabited.  The  extent  of  these  lands  from  Cape  Girardeau  in  Missouri  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  is,  in  a  straight  line,  about  600  miles,  with  a  variable 
width  of  from  thirty  to  ninety  miles,  thus  giving  for  the  whole  length  an 
average  width  of  sixty  miles.1  If  it  is  possible  for  engineering  skill  to  drain 
these  lands  and  protect  them  from  overflow  I  believe  it  will  yet  be  done. 
This  accomplished,  their  salubrity  will  follow,  and  their  fertility,  which  is 
unequaled  in  the  world,  will  attract  to  them  a  dense  population.  And  thus 
their  sanitary  condition,  their  economic  value,  and  their  producing  capacity 
will  all  be  established.  The  reclamation  of  wet  and  boggy  lands  by  drain¬ 
age  has  doubtless  been  practiced  from  very  early  ages,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  measure  will  ere  long  assume  economic,  geographical,  and  sanitary 
importance  in  our  country.  It  is  held  to  be  one  of  the  first  duties  of  rulers 
to  so  administer  the  affairs  of  state  as  to  preserve  the  soil  of  the  country  in 
a  salubrious  and  productive  condition,  and  if  possible  to  increase  the  area  of 
their  cultivable  land.  The  necessity  for  drainage  can  be  pointed  out  by  the 
hygienist,  and  its  successful  execution  and  effectiveness  can  be  approved,  or 
its  failure  condemned  by  the  sanitarian.  But  the  methods  and  the  art  of 
drainage  and  irrigation  properly  belong  to  the  engineer. 

The  mode  of  drainage  by  means  of  the  straightening  of  channels,  building 
dikes,  cutting  canals,  planting  trees,  and  by  other  means,  will  suggest  itself 
to  all  of  us,  but  each  particular  marsh,  swamp,  and  boggy  locality  requires 
special  combinations  of  new  and  old  methods  that  will  at  times  tax  the  abil¬ 
ity  of  the  ablest  engineers. 

Mr.  Marsh,  in  his  work  already  referred  to,  says  that  within  the  past  cen¬ 
tury  more  than  half  a  million  acres  of  swamp  land  have  been  recovered  by 
drainage  in  Hungary,  and  that  many  thousands  of  acres  have  been  reclaimed 
in  Italy,  Holland,  and  China  and  other  countries.  The  United  States  Agri¬ 
cultural  Report  for  1872  gives  very  encouraging  accounts  of  the  reclamation 
of  swamp  lands  in  California 2  by  the  construction  of  levees  and  by  other 
methods. 

1  Delta  of  the  Mississippi ,  by  Colonel  C.  G.  Forshey. 

2  The  efforts  of  the  people  of  ancient  times  to  reclaim  swamp  lands  must  have  been 
numerous  and  successful.  The  inhabitants  of  Ancient  Rome,  Greece,  Phoenicia,  and  Tyre, 
created  many  works  for  the  protection  of  the  coasts  from  overflow  from  the  sea. 

In  our  own  country,  when  the  city  of  New  Orleans  was  laid  out  in  1717,  levees  were 
immediately  commenced,  which  were  extended  in  ten  years  afterwards  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  up  the  river ;  and  thus  the  plan  of  the  levee  system  of  Lower  Louisiana  was 
inaugurated.  The  whole  of  the  embankments  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  its  tributaries, 
must  altogether  reach  a  total  length  of  at  least  2,500  miles.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  from  Cape  Girardeau  to  Point-a-la  Hacha,  below  New 
Orleans,  the  embankments  formed  a  wall  1,125  miles  in  length,  only  interrupted  by  the 
mouths  of  rivers  and  a  few  spots  of  rising  ground.  In  1828,  the  levees  of  the  Mississippi 
were  continuous  from  New  Orleans  to  Red  River,  and,  by  1844,  they  were  complete  as  far 
as  Napoleon,  Ark.  After  the  swamp-land  grants  of  1849-50,  these  works  were  nearly 
completed  from  Cape  Girardeau,  Missouri,  to  Point-a-la  Hacha,  below  New  Orleans. 

From  neglect,  and  the  frequent  crevasses,  much  of  the  territory  which  had  been  reclaimed 


38 


A  VIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  LEADING 


Water-soaked  lands  are  refrigerating  in  their  nature  through  the  evapora¬ 
tion  that  is  constantly  taking  place,  while  well-drained  lands  are  warmer  on 
account  of  their  great  absorption  and  retention  of  heat.  The  latter  will,  in 
consequence,  produce  better  matured  fruits  and  crops  than  if  damp  and 
moist.  Drainage,  both  for  sanitary  purposes  as  well  as  for  agriculture,  ought 
to  be  deep  enough  to  be  below  the  point  affected  by  the  ordinary  variations 
of  temperature,  and  that  to  which  the  roots  of  plants  extend. 

Fortunately,  in  many  places  improved  modes  of  agriculture  are  doing 
much  for  health.  It  is  well  known  to  farmers  that  dry  uplands  escape  the 
late  spring  and  early  autumnal  frosts,  while  the  low  and  wet  lands  suffer. 
Closely  connected  with  drainage,  for  agricultural  purposes,  is  irrigation.1 

has  again  passed  into  swamp,  and  neither  the  people  nor  the  States  along  the  river  are  now 
able  to  bear  the  expense  of  repairing  and  keeping  the  levees  in  order. 

In  England,  as  many  as  680,000  acres  of  the  fen  or  marsh  country  have  been  reclaimed, 
and  the  works  for  this  purpose  rival  those  of  Holland.  A  great  part  of  the  county  of  Lin¬ 
colnshire,  England,  lies  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  from  which  it  is  defended  by  embank¬ 
ments,  and  thus  rendered  arable.  Since  the  occupation  of  the  county  by  the  Romans, 
large  tracts  have  from  time  to  time  been  reclaimed.  The  soil  of  these  lands  is  the  finest  in 
England.  In  the  third  century  the  Emperor  Severus  built  a  road  from  Peterborough  to 
Denver,  which  was  sixty  feet  wide  and  three  feet  deep.  It  is  now  covered  by  from  three  to 
five  feet  of  soil,  and  is  protected  from  the  sea  by  an  embankment.  There  is  much  feason  to 
believe  that  Bedford  Level,  a  district  of  England  having  an  approximate  area  of  400,000 
acres,  was  formerly  much  lower  than  at  present,  and  was  covered  by  a  vast  forest. 

The  Lowlanders  are  believed  to  have  secured  some  coast  and  bay  islands  by  ring-dikes, 
and  to  have  embanked  some  fresh-water  channels,  as  early  as  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  ; 
but  it  does  n'ot  appear  that  sea  dikes,  important  enough  to  be  noticed  hi  historical  records, 
were  constructed  on  the  main  land  before  the  thirteenth  century.  The  practice  of  draining 
inland  accumulations  of  water,  whether  fresh  or  salt,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  under  cul¬ 
tivation  the  ground  they  cover,  is  of  later  origin,  and  is  said  not  to  have  been  adopted  until 
after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  (Marsh  refers  to  Staring,  p.  407.) 

The  dike  system  of  Holland  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  and  perfect  in  the  world. 
It  has  redeemed  to  agriculture  an  immense  area  of  rich  alluvial  land.  The  works  are  con¬ 
structed  to  reclaim  the  deltas  and  alluvial  deposits  of  the  Scheldt,  Meuse,  and  Rhine,  and 
are  kept  in  repair  at  an  annual  expense  to  the  government  of  from  $ 2,000,000  to  $2,500,000. 
Staring  estimates  the  whole  surface  gained  to  agriculture  in  the  Netherlands  at  877,240 
acres,  which  was  accomplished  by  diking  against  the  sea,  and  by  drainage.  Between  1815 
and  1858  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  acres  were  added  to  the  agricultural  industries. 

Denmark  is  a  low,  flat  country,  and  some  parts  of  its  northern  portion  are  below  the 
level  of  the  sea.  The  whole  western  coast  of  Holstein  Sleswick  is  defended,  as  in  Holland, 
by  dikes  or  mounds,  erected  against  the  waves  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  Zealand  is  protected  by 
dikes  250  miles  long,  maintained  at  an  annual  cost  of  over  $400,000. 

The  island  of  Pelworm,  on  the  coast  of  Sleswick,  (laving  an  area  of  10,000  acres,  expends 
annually  $30,000  for  the  maintenance  of  its  dikes.  The  Adour,  which,  however,  does  not 
carry  down  such  large  quantities  of  alluvium  as  the  Mississippi  and  the  Rhone,  is  one  of  the 
few  rivers  where  engineers  have  obtained  at  least  favorable  results  from  the  system  of  em¬ 
bankment.  Commenced  as  early  as  1694,  the  labors  of  the  engineers  have  continued  up  to 
the  present  time.  To  check  the  rivers  of  Italy  from  deviating  from  their  courses  and  invad¬ 
ing  the  lowlands,  a  system  of  artificial  embankments  has  been  adopted.  The  Po,  Adige, 
and  almost  all  their  tributaries,  are  now  confined  between  high  artificial  banks. 

This  practice,  Lyell  says,  was  adopted  in  Italy  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century.  New¬ 
ark  Meadows,  in  the  State  .of  New  Jersey,  have  been  to  some  extent  embanked,  and  will 
yet,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  drained,  and  become  arable  and  salubrious. 

1  The  art  of  irrigation,  it  would  seem,  was  known  and  extensively  practiced  by  the  an¬ 
cients.  The  earlier  operations  of  this  nature,  of  which  there  are  remains,  are  found  on  the 


PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  39 


Both  of  these  are  very  ancient.  It  is  stated  that  since  the  completion  of  the 
Suez  Canal  the  amount  of  rainfall  in  the  isthmus  has  increased.  This  result 
is  also  claimed  by  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  as  the  consequence  of  the  planting 
of  trees,  and  irrigation  for  agricultural  purposes.  The  introduction  of  the 
eucalyptus  has  raised  the  hope  that  this  tree  will  grow  upon  our  western 
plains,  and  on  what  have  been  denominated  the  American  deserts.  The 
belief  is  entertained,  whether  based  on  scientific  principles  or  not,  that  if  the 
great  American  plains  were  clothed  with  timber,  a  more  abundant  and 
equable  precipitation  would  follow,  and4hat  this  would  lead  to  the  profitable 
occupation  and  cultivation  of  this  immense  region. 

The  apprehension  that  sufficient  water  for  agriculture  and  domestic  uses 
cannot  be  had  on  the  plains,  except  along  the  spurs  of  mountains,  scientific 
investigations  have  nearly  dispelled.  Artesian  wells,  when  sunk  in  this 
region,  furnish  abundance  of  water  at  a  depth  of  less  than  1,000  feet.  In¬ 
deed,  it  is  found  that  the  great  water  currents  and  rivers  under  the  earth  are 
comparatively  near  the  surface,  or*  within  a  few  thousand  feet.  Borings  have 
been  successful  at  a  greater  depth,  but  this  does  not  invalidate  the  rule. 

I  ought  perhaps  to  say  a  word  in  apology  for  the  extended  remarks  I  have 
made  on  drainage  in,  the  interests  of  sanitary  science,  and  its  economic  and 
geographic  advantage  to  the  nation.  I  look  upon  a  proper  encouragement 
of  agricultural  pursuits,  and  their  regulation  and  advancement  by  the  fostering 
care  of  the  government,  as  of  vital  importance  to  the  whole  people.  Indeed, 
I  regard  this  branch  of  industry  as  the  fundamental  promoter  of  both  the 
individual  and  public  health,  as  well  as  of  national  prosperity.  My  judgment 
is  that  improvement  would  follow  both  in  the  moral  and  physical  condition 
of  a  multitude  of  our  people,  if  they  could  be  induced  by  favorable  legisla¬ 
tion,  or  other  means,  to  acquire  and  live  in  their  own  houses,  and  have  a 
garden  to  cultivate.  We  regret  the  contempt  or  dissatisfaction  with  which 

plains  of  Central  Asia,  in  that  region  to  which  tradition  points  as  the  cradle  of  the  human 
race  !  In  the  deserts  of  Assyria,  Mesopotamia,  and  indeed  almost  throughout  Asia  Minor,  in 
Mongolia,  Hindostan,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  the  remains  of  these  ancient,  crude  en¬ 
gineering  operations  are  found.  In  the  dawn  of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  barbaric  hosts 
overran  Europe,  they,  too,  brought  the  arid  lands  under  cultivation  by  means  of  irrigation. 
In  the  days  of  King  Solomon,  on  account  of  the  custom  being  general,  Judsea  was  a  fruitful 
land,  and  no  doubt  presented  a  very  different  aspect  from  what  it  does  at  the  present  time, 
as  far  as  productiveness  is  concerned.  In  Lombardy,  in  the  summer,  Marsh  states,  that 
there  are  1,375,000  acres  irrigated,  requiring  daily  60,000,000  cubic  yards  of  water.  In 
1856,  in  the  former  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  including  Savoy,  600,000  acres  were  irrigated  dur¬ 
ing  the  summer  season.  The  irrigated  lands  of  France  are  about  247,000  acres.  In  Italy 
2,000,000  acres  are  irrigated,  one  half  of  which  is  effected  by  canals. 

Irrigation  is  a  necessity  in  the  Oriental  countries,  where  numerous  remains  of  this 
class  of  improvements  are  yet  to  be  seen.  In  British  India  it  is  estimated  that  there  are 
6,000,000  acres  annually  irrigated,  and  canals  are  being  constructed,  that  will,  when  com¬ 
pleted,  irrigate  as  much  more.  In  Egypt,  the  cultivated  soil  that  is  annually  irrigated 
amounts  to  7,000  square  miles, — about  4,500,000  acres.  Irrigation  for  agriculture  is  not 
much  practiced  in  the  United  States,  except  in  the  rice  fields  of  the  South,  and  to  a  limited 
extent  in  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  and  California.  It  is  practiced,  however,  by  truck 
gardens  near  all  our  large  cities  in  all  the  States,  and  is  the  only  means  of  producing  with 
certainty  first-class  garden  vegetables  in  quantities  sufficient  to  render  the  business  profita¬ 
ble. 


40  PUBLIC  HEALTH  QUESTIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  small  farmer  is  regarded  by  a  very  large  portion  of  our  people,  who 
seem  disposed  to  fly  from  the  slow  but  sure  development  of  the  wealth 
which  has  been  hidden  in  the  soil,  in  order  to  attempt  the  accumulation  of 
rapid  fortunes  in  the  marts  of  manufacture  and  commerce. 

The  domain  of  Preventive  Medicine  which  invites  attention  is  so  exten¬ 
sive,  that  it  is  quite  possible,  out  of  the  multitude  of  points  deserving  re¬ 
view,  that  I  have  not  selected  either  the  most  important  or  entertaining. 
Yet,  whatever  may  be  my  shortcomings  in  this  regard,  I  am  quite  confident 
they  will  be  compensated  by  the  great  treasures  which  have  been  stored  up, 
and  are  now  about  to  be  opened  to  us  by  the  Nestors  of  sanitary  science 
whom  I  see  around  me.  My  judgment  and  all  my  sympathies  are  earnestly 
enlisted  in  the  success  of  this  Association,  and  its  efforts  to  increase  the  com¬ 
forts,  to  improve  the  vigor  and  physical  condition,  and  to  insure  the  lon¬ 
gevity  of  our  people.  Whatever  we  can  do  will  always  be  cheerfully  done 
for  giving  full  effect  to  measures  for  the  preservation  of  the  public  health. 

Gentlemen,  I  must  plead  the  importance  of  my  theme  in  extenuation  for 
the  time  thus  occupied,  and  in  conclusion  I  feel  justified  in  pledging  health, 
vigor,  and  long  life  to  the  true  followers  of  the  Gospel  Hygiene. 


